Now I pick the place to live
by RusEmp
Summary: The team met two strange kids in Cadmus, who were searching for something. Further meetings proved that the Ghost King and his Queen can either possess deadly threat or become most valuable allies. But what will the League choose?
1. Chapter I: Accidental meeting

Three young heroes understood that Batman's suspicions about Cadmus were completely right. First they got a glimpse on a creature that belongs to a hospital in some horror movie, then on an elevator, which, as they later found out, was way too fast for a mere two story building. There is something to be suspicious about. Why they were here instead of the League? Well, big guys had more important things to do. One of the villains planned to do something with the Sun, you know, the usual.

But League orders were to 'stay put'. This caused Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash's justified reaction at being treated like sidekicks, so they created a plan called 'Poetic Justice', increasing the usage of this word maybe too much. What's the point? To prove their mentors that they are capable enough. That's why they were currently making a visit to the facility.

They looked down the shaft of elevator. It was very deep, so most of it should be underground. Robin took the end of the rope and climbed down, his friends following. They reached the Sublevel 26, when Wonder Boy stated to hack the system, being in his element.

"Bypassing security...there, go"

The doors slided open, revealing the true face of the facility.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus"

-Laterr-

It was sure an enlightening journey. Giant gray trolls half the size of the floor didn't exactly prove a normality of Cadmus. The fire above them, on the surface part, played on their hands, helping to stay unnoticed.

One hacking later, the group of heroes entered yet another creepy room. Glass tubes reached for the ceiling, gray creatures crackled with electricity inside them. Blue light and shadows created an omnious feeling, and the main source of the light was a huge screen. In normal, or at least as normal as it usually is, circumstances, Robin would attempt to hack that computer, however there was a problem, actually two. Not only he had that idea.

The heroes froze and hid in the shadows. Meeting with anyone was the last thing they needed. Once there, they were able to get a good look on the people, the screen giving enough light. The boy and the girl, about the same age as them, about seventeen. The boy had shockingly white hair, wearing black and white clothes: black costume with 'DP' emblem, silver belt, white gloves and boots. The girl had black hair, dressed in green dress, without shoes. Getting a better look, they saw that the dress seemed to be made of leaves. Robin was reminded about Poison Ivy.

"Flames above!" The boy hit the panel after receiving another 'access denied'. His baritone voice would fit a charismatic villain, "ugh, why it should be so complicated?!" The girl put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry so much, Danny. Calm down, you can do it," she said softly. He took a calming breath, then flinched.

"Did you hear something?"

Heroes were paralyzed. Apparently newly labeled 'Danny' had a super hearing. His accomplice started to listen as well.

"Three of them"

To heroes' surprise, they looked right at them.

"Alright, you look waay to unusual even for secret lab," Danny said with crossed hands, "So I can guess you are unwanted visitors as well. You better come out"

Looks like they can see in darkness. The heroes walked out of hiding with raised hands. Only now they noticed mysterious teens' eyes. Danny had a neon green and red eyes, which glowed in darkness. The girl also had green eyes, but they were forest green, and unnerving detail was that hers didn't have pupils at all.

"Who are you?" Wally, aka Kid Flash asked.

"We can ask the same question," the girl answered. The heroes raised eyebrows.

"You are kidding, right?"

"What, is that a crime not to know?" Danny asked.

"No," Caldur, aka Aqualad answered, "it's just people usually know about us and our mentors," he said the last word in a bitter tone. If two teens noticed that, they didn't show it.

"Alright, hold on. You are superheroes, right?" They nodded slowly, "then what in the two worlds you are doing in creepy underground lab?"

"We..." Wally started to say, but his mouth was covered by Robin.

"How do we know we can trust you two?" He asked.

"See that button?" Danny gestured to the red circle on the panel, "If we were against you then we would just press it and raise the alarm"

"Batman had a suspicions about this place..." Danny laughed, revealing sharp fangs.

"Seriously, you have a guy called like that?" Heroes' eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, look who is talking, 'Inviso-Bill'," the girl smirked.

"It thought we agreed not to bring up that name, Sam" Danny moaned, "I hate media," Wally and Robin snickered, "anyways, do you have hacker? We could use one"

Robin walked to the computer and started typing.

"So, do you have any specific target?" the girl now known as Sam asked.

"No, we were looking for anything suspicious. And looks like we found it," Caldur answered, "but what are YOU doing here?" Danny and Sam looked at each other.

"We are searching for something important. Old man said it should be here," Danny said, "I can assure you, it's nothing dangerous, and that scientists here wouldn't even pay any attention to it's loss"

"And what is it?"

"Guys, look at that," Robin interrupted. The screen has shown pictures of different mutants, some of them were already seen by the team of heroes. Huge gorilla like monsters, small ones and not so much. Each of that species had own unique abilities: telepathy, super strength, speed.

"Looks like they are breeding weapons"

"That's disgusting!" Sam spat, "they create life and use them as tools!" She was fuming on the inside and outside.

"Sam," Danny tried to calm her down.

"Wait, there is something else...Project Kr!"

"Do you think it has something to do with Superman?"

"You've got to be kidding me. And you said being called 'Phantom' is lame, Sam," Danny laughed, receiving not amused looks from the others, "We seriously need to look into locals"

"Don't move!"

Teens turned around and saw a man in black armor and yellow helmet. He was followed by the group of G-nomes, as they were called in documents. There was small one, who was sitting on his shoulder.

"Alright, who the heck is that guy?" Danny asked the question, which would never be answered directly.

"Wait, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Robin?" The man asked confused.

"At least he got your name right," Robin said to Wally, continuing to type.

"I know you. You are Guardian, a hero," Aqualad said.

"I do my best," he responded proudly.

"Then what are you doing here?" Wally asked.

"I can ask the same question. I'm chief of security, you are trespassing. We can call the Justice League to figure this out," Guardian said.

"Are you aware that you are breeding weapons here?!" Sam asked, crossing her hands.

"Weapons? What are you..." the genomorph on his shoulder started to emmit the red light from its small horns.

"Take them down. No mercy!" Guardian said and the creatures obeyed his order.

Robin threw a smoke grenade and dissapeared from sight. The others were immediately involved into fight with gray creatures. Danny, however, had a harder time, fighting with Guardian himself. Phantom made a hook, which was deflected, Guardian counterattacked, trying to hit his opponent in the head. Danny ducked and sidestepped him roughly. It wasn't as good as Danny wanted it to be, it only made Guardian stumble a bit. Choosing another strategy, Phantom managed to get behind his enemy and blast him with green beam.

"Danny!" Sam shouted. He turned around and saw that the rest of the company was retreating, so he followed. They stopped near the elevator. G-nomes ran right after them. Danny noticed that. He raised his hands, which started to glow with blue light. Danny shot the beams, which were the same blue color. The corridor started to freeze over, the ice wall blocking the way of mutants. The heroes stared at the display.

"It wouldn't take them long to find a way around," Danny said, his eyes returning to normal, losing blue color, "we should hurry"

They entered the elevator. Then they couldn't help but notice that they were going down.

"Why are we heading down?" Caldur asked.

"Dude, out is up!"

"We are heading to Project Kr, aren't we?" Danny deadpanned, leaning on the wall of the elevator. Robin nodded.

"This is getting out of control," Caldur said, "Perhaps...we should contact the League..."

"Wait, so this 'League' doesn't know about you being here?" Sam asked. The heroes shared a look with each other.

"No"

Doors of the elevator opened and the group stepped outside. Decorator of this place sure is weird. Everything seemed like the insides of an animal. They came to a crossroad.

"Hm, which way?" Danny asked.

"Bizzare looking hallway number one or bizarre looking hallway number two?" Robin said sarcastically.

"Halt!"

They saw a gray humanoid figure, with long horns on a forehead, wearing a lab coat. Suddenly, its horns started to glow red and crates were sent flying at them. Sam raised her hands and the crates stopped in midair. Then they flew back at the sender. Danny shot a beam into the crates, causing them to explode. That allowed them to get away. After some time they got to the door, labeled 'Project Kr'. Danny needed to hold the door to keep it opened. Robin hacked the door to not let their enemies open it.

"We are safe," he said.

"Actually, kiddo, we are TRAPPED," Danny responded.

"Guys, you might want to see this!"

They looked at the center of the room. There was a glass pod, labeled the same way as the doors. There was a sixteen years old boy, with black hair, wearing a white suit with letter 'S' on his chest. Danny and Sam had an odd sense of déjà vu. Robin started typing on a panel yet again.

"Weapon designation: Superboy. Forcefully grown in...16 weeks. From DNA acquired from Superman..."

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected.

"No duh," Phantom rolled his eyes.

"How was he grown so fast?" Sam asked. Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Nucleoacid solution..."

Danny walked away, Sam following behind. There was another door, which was closed behind them, leaving the rest of the group in the room. It wasn't big, just lines of shelves, filled with different strange liquids and other unknown things. Danny and Sam started to search around. It was to no avail, they couldn't find their target. Then they heard the banging sounds, which meant there was a fight outside. They almost reached the door, when they heard a voice in their heads.

"I don't recommend you to do that," Danny narrowed his eyes at no one.

"And why shouldn't we?"

"Please, this is for better good. I'm not against you..."

-Later-

The heroes woke up after hearing a voice in their heads. They were contained inside glass containers. And there was Superboy, standing in front of them and glaring.

"Would you stop that?" Wally said, "You are creeping me out!"

"Uh...KF, how about you don't make the guy who can fry you with look angry?" Robin warned.

"We only sought to help you," Aqualad spoke.

"Yeah, and that's your gratitude?" Wally said.

"I'm sure he wasn't in control of his actions"

"And...what if I wasn't?" Superboy said.

"He can talk?" Wally asked.

"Yes he can, Kid," Phantom appeared from nowhere with crossed hands.

"So you are with them?" He asked with a glare. Danny chuckled.

"I never said that. No, I'm on your side. But I want to talk with you, Superboy. And please, keep in mind that fighting with me will prove fultile. Tell me, who and what are you"

"I'm Superboy. A genomorph, a clone made from DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him when he will perish. To destroy him should he turn from the Light," Phantom shook his head.

"That's what Cadmus wants you to think, Superboy. You are your own person, not just a mere copy. And a person can not be held deep under ground, waiting before his master will let him go. For them," he gestured to the door, "you are a toy, a tool, which will be disposed of when they will lose need in you. Is that what you need? Come with us, and we will show you the world above, the sun, the moon..." His head shot up, "Flames," he cursed and disappeared.

The second he did it, the door slid open, revealing another scientist with genomorph-telepath on his shoulder, followed by Guardian. The name tag on the scientist's lab coat told that that was Doctor Desmond.

"Activate the cloning process," he ordered.

"Pass, Batcave is overcrowded enough," Robin said.

"And return the weapon to its cage," Desmond growled. Guardian put a hand on Superboy's shoulder.

"Help us," Caldur whispered, knowing that the clone could hear him. Superboy shook Guardian's hand off.

"Don't start thinking now," little genomorph jumped on his shoulder, horns glowing red, "You see, you aren't a real boy. You are a weapon. You belong to me...well, Cadmus, same thing. Now get back to your cage," Desmond ordered.

Superboy walked away, eyes wide in trance. However on his way he heard a whisper.

"The choice is yours, my friend"

Superboy stood there for some time, before taking genomorph off. He made his decision.

Meanwhile, the process of cloning was launched. The trio of heroes screamed in pain.

"Sir," Guardian said.

"What is it?" Desmond asked annoyed.

"There were two more kids, we can't find them"

"And when were you going to tell me, you idiot?!" He shouted, "who was that?"

Suddenly Superboy burst through the door.

"I told you to return..." he punched Desmond, while Guardian was thrown away by some invisible force.

"Don't give me orders," Superboy growled. Danny appeared again, laughing.

"Nice one," he said as they approached the prisoners.

"So, are you here to save us or fry us?" Wally asked. Superboy narrowed his eyes.

"I don't seem to have a heat vision, so I guess helping is my only option," he said. Danny gasped.

"You just made a joke! We seem to make a progress," he raised his hands sheepishly as Superboy glared at him. Robin was able to pick his restrains by that point.

"Finally, lucky Batman isn't here. He would tear my head for taking so long," he said, rubbing his sore wrists.

"You should seriously look into your priorities, Birdie"

After releasing the others, they ran to the exit.

"I'll get you in the pods before morning!" Desmond shouted after them.

"This guy is not whelmed," Robin said as he blew up the DNA pods, "Not whelmed at all"

"Uhm, what?" Danny asked.

"People can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, so, I stay whelmed," Danny looked thoughtful.

They continued their marathon to the exit, meeting more genomorphs on their way. They appeared and appeared, coming from everywhere. Danny repeated the same trick of freezing the hallway. The huge gorilla like creatures tried to ram the ice.

"How long it should keep them out?" Caldur asked. Danny shrugged.

"It melts only with hellfire, which I doubt they have. And it's as hard as diamonds"

"It brings another question, what the heck are you?" Wally asked. Others were curious as well. Danny shook his head, chuckling.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me anyway"

They reached the elevator and opened the shaft. Robin used his grappling hook and Danny floated in the air.

"Now he is floating, what's next?" Wally deadpanned.

Superboy grabbed Caldur and jumped high in the air. It went well for some time, before they started to fall. Danny noticed that and grabbed Superboy's hand. He had a shocked look on his face.

"Superman can fly, why I can't?" He asked.

"I don't know," Danny said, "Jumping sky high is good as well," he then chuckled, "Don't worry, you are awake for, how much...one hour? When I learned to fly, it looked pathetic to say the least"

They heard the sound of elevator going down. In a blink of an eye they got out at the nearest floor. To be greeted by more genomorphs. And they continued running.

"Go left!" Superboy shouted. Everyone followed him, because they didn't have much time to think, plus maybe information was planted in his mind.

"Turn right!" They came to a dead end.

"Great directions, Supey," KF said sarcastically.

"I...I don't understand..." Superboy said, confused.

"Don't apologize, it's perfect!" Robin responded with a grin on his face. Before anyone could ask what he meant, Robin opened the air shaft and climbed inside. Everybody followed him.

"At this rate we will never get out," Wally groaned. Danny stopped abruptly.

"You hear that?" He asked Superboy, who was behind him.

"Genomorphs"

"Not a problem. I hacked motion detectors," Robin said.

They leaped outside in another hallway. It became just plain annoying. Speedster ran ahead, leaving them running behind. Genomorphes followed them. Danny grinned, it would be hell of a fun. He turned around and put a finger on a staircase. It became intangible, making the creatures fall on the ground, causing Phantom to laugh. With a voice like his it sounded downright creepy. The group came to a metal door, out of reflex, Danny became intangible and phazed through the door.

He blinked a few times before he realized his mistake. Danny returned and noticed a hole in the wall. Looks like the others found their way out. Danny went there. And saw a horde of genomorphes and Guardian, with the rest of the group lying on the ground. Except Superboy, who seemed to be talking with that telekinetic guy from a while ago. The gray man looked at Danny.

"And you, I want to show my gratefulness for listening," Phantom nodded slowly, still confused, "but there was a girl with you, where is she?"

"We found what we were searching for, so she returned home. And before you ask, it was a very reliable plan"

"Very well," the heroes started to get up. The genomorph turned to Superboy, saying something to him telepathically.

"I choose freedom," Superboy answered confidently.

"Feels like...fog lifting," Guardian mumbled as the monkeyish type jumped off his shoulder, "Go, I'll take care of Desmond"

"I don't think so," Desmond stood there, a vile of glowing blue liquid in his hand, "Project Blockbuster will give me power to restore the order in Cadmus," he drank the contents.

Immediately his body started to change. His muscles grew rapidly, Desmond was becoming taller and taller, until he became twice as tall as most of them. His skin was torn to shreds, leaving only a few pieces and showing dark gray interior. He roared loudly.

"Stay back!" Guardian ordered and attacked the mutant, but he just tossed him to the side. Then Superboy lunged at him, but Blockbuster responded with the same. When he repeated his attempt, the mutant grabbed and threw him up through the ceiling, jumping right after his opponent.

"Well, at least we have exit now," Danny shrugged, flying up in the air.

"Do you think Lab coat planned this?" Wally asked as he and Robin used the grappling hook.

"I don't think he is planning anything now," Aqualad answered, grabbing Danny's hand.

There Blockbuster was beating up his opponent. He threw Superboy right into them. In one swift motion Danny caught him. Kid Flash and Caldur attacked the monster, which resulted in more cracks on the pillars.

"You think about the same thing, Birdie?" Danny asked, smirking.

"Yep, KF, get over here!" Wally did as was told.

"See this pillars, Kid?" Danny said, gesturing to one of them, Wally nodded, "we need to break them, distract this guy for a while, got it?"

"Got it!" He ran away.

While Aqualad, Superboy and Kid Flash fought with the mutant, Danny and Robin started destroying the pillars. The second one planted explosives, Danny shot the beams of ectoenergy, using them as a saw.

"Aqualad!" He called. The named hero got near, "make a big enough puddle there," Caldur nodded. Danny turned to the Blockbuster and cracked his knuckles.

"Hey, Incredible Hulk!" (You wouldn't believe, but this phrase was really said by Wally in Russian dub)

Blockbuster turned to him and lunged at him with another roar. He prepared another punch, but Danny beated him to it. Literally. He knocked the mutant's head hard. He stumbled from a force of the hit, which created a sound wave. Blockbuster still managed to get a hold on Phantom, preparing to repeat the process. When he almost pinned Danny, he became intangible, going through the pillar and making Blockbuster hit it with full force. Phantom appeared in the air some distance away. Blockbuster attacked again. Stepping in the puddle.

"Now!" Danny shouted, flying through his enemy's hand. Aqualad sent an electrical surge in the water. As people know, water and electricity don't mix well. The mutant screamed in pain.

"Everyone, get close!" Phantom said. The others did as was told. Danny raised his hand and created a green dome above them. Only now they noticed a green ring with a skull engraved on it, "Blow up, Robin!"

The building crumbled around them, burying the mutant under debris.

-Lateer-

Some time later a green explosion sent the rocks flying away. It was Danny, who dissipated his dome. Almost everyone was panting in exhaustion.

"We...did it!" Aqualad said.

"No doubt about that," Danny chuckled, "Hey, Sup, look up"

Superboy looked and saw the Moon, shining in the night sky. A feeling of happiness overcame him, he didn't show it as much, though.

"Daniel Phantom always keeps his promises," Danny winked with a smile.

Suddenly he noticed a few adult figures, flying down from the night sky. The one in the lead was obviously 'Superman' Danny heard about, since he had the same symbol on his chest as Superboy. There were also people, which immediately got nicknames from Danny: 'Dark and Gloomy', 'Robin Hood', 'Green Guy', etc.

"Well," Danny clapped his hands once and calling the adults' attention, "I think that's farewell for now. It was pretty interesting"

He dissappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving confused adults and awed teens behind.

A.N. Another story? *shrugs* Don't judge me.


	2. Chapter II: Of all places to choose

"Now I want an explanation," Batman said.

He was standing inside the huge cave, which was once a base of Justice League. It was compromised and wasn't used for a long time. Until now. The idea was hiding in the plain sight, or as Robin said: 'They don't know that we know that they know'. After their small 'adventure', the adults, including their mentors, let them be in one team. It included Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin, Superboy and Miss Martian, or M'gann, or Megan. As her name said, she was a martian, the niece of Martian Manhunter, to be exact.

"He briefly mentioned that his name is Daniel Phantom," Kaldur said.

"I doubt it's his real name, though," Kid Flash added.

"The first strange thing was that he didn't seem to know anything about the League or heroes here at all," Batman nodded, which meant 'continue'.

"He was searching for something in Cadmus," that especially picked Dark Knight's interest.

"Maybe that was Nucleoacid solution," Robin said, "they were interested in that topic," he shrugged.

"They?"

"Oh, yeah," KF said, "forgot to tell you. There was a girl with him. When we ran from Cadmus, she has gone somewhere..."

"They found what they were searching for," Superboy blurted, "he said that she has returned home," he explained after getting looks from the others.

"But why would they need it?" Megan asked.

"Maybe they wanted to make another clone..." Wally started.

"There is a possibility," Batman admitted, "Any abilities?"

"The girl, Sam, she said that she couldn't use her main ability," Robin told, "she used telekinesis, though. Phantom...he seems like a mix of Superman and Manhunter. He flies, has super strength, shoots with ice and laser beams, density shifting, telekinesis, creates green constructions like Green Lantern," number sure was very impressive, and concerning. Little did they know it's not all.

"I'm going to search for that 'Phantom'," Batman said, "You are dismissed"

-Later-

"Guys, I'm home!" Danny shouted, closing the door behind him.

It was an apartment building. Not so big, but not small either. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, full kitchen and big living room. Danny took off his shoes, when he heard girl's shout.

"Dad!"

A twelve years old girl ran to him and gave Danny a huge hug. She had black hair and icy blue eyes, just like her father in human form. The girl was wearing a blue hoodie and red pants and was currently jumping in joy. Danny chuckled.

"Hey, Dani, how are you?" He stroke her hair.

"I feel better, Mom gave something to me. It was gross," she grimaced.

"Well, sometimes medicine tastes like that," Sam said, coming out of the living room, smiling softly at the sight of father and daughter. She was wearing black and purple clothes, her eyes remained the same, since she couldn't change forms like the rest of their small family, "By the way, Danny, there must be sunny weather at the weekend, so I thought, maybe we will go to the park?"

"Pleaaase, Daddy!" Dani made puppy eyes, which she certainly inherited from her father. And now this weapon was used against him. She may look twelve but on the inside she is still three years old little girl.

"Alright, we should celebrate your recovery, after all," Dani beamed at him and hugged tighter. If Danny wasn't already half way there, he would be dead.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

They were having dinner later. It was hard at first, but they got used to it. The problem is, Sam was a vegetarian, while Danny was not. At the palace they had cooks, who made both types of food. The small family now lived here, where Sam, never let Danny near the frying pan, took the role. She put some salad on his plate, causing him to pout, which in turn caused Dani to giggle. Before he could touch his food, there was a knock on the door. Danny got up and went to open the door.

There was no one there. Only a small package with 'CW' emblem. Danny raised an eyebrow and picked the package. He carried it inside, shut the door. He took the package to the kitchen and put it on the table.

"What is it?" Sam asked. Danny opened the package. He took some files from inside. When Danny understood what it is, he laughed.

"Oh, Clocky, you always know what we need," he took the first one, sitting back on his chair.

"Batman, secret identity: Bruce Wayne. Unspoken leader of the Justice League.

Abilities: Fighting skills, arsenal of weaponry.

Known accomplices: Robin, aka Richard 'Dick' Grayson; Batgirl, aka Barbara Gordon"

So Danny read aloud the information every villain will pay billions to hear. And the information about every single villain as well.

-Lateerr-

As Phantoms planned, they went on a family trip. It was a rather nice day, as predicted. Dani immediately ran to her favorite place, a playground, leaving her parents behind. They chuckled.

"Go ahead," Sam said with a smile. She was wearing sunglasses not to let anyone see her eyes. Danny shrugged, before going after his little daughter.

Dani was walking on a rope bridge, jumping from leg to leg. Suddenly the elder Phantom touched her from under little girl, making her jump in surprise. Danny grinned, looking at her.

"You better run," he said. Dani grinned too and did as was told.

It was like that for about half an hour. She will get somewhere, let it be climbing wall or rope, and Danny would follow her. Giggling, Dani hid behind the bushes, leaving her confused father behind. She kept quiet, looking through the plant how Danny kept searching for her. Suddenly, a small vine tapped her on a shoulder. Dani turned around, only to be grabbed by her mother.

"And where are you going, young lady?" She asked, smiling.

"Mom, lemme go!" Dani tried to escape.

"Nope," she ruffled her hair. Smaller girl pouted and repeated her attempt, but to no avail.

"There you are!" Danny laughed, coming closer.

The moment was too perfect, it just begged for something to happen. And it happened. They heard an explosion somewhere on the distance. Danny sighed.

"I'm going..."

"Danny!" Sam said, making him turn to her, "You are not going anywhere!"

"I am"

"No, you aren't!" She grabbed his hand, "Don't you remember the last time?!"

"Sam," Danny said, hugging her, "I remember. I know, you wanted me to stop being hero. After...what happened...But I simply can't. It's my obsession, honey, and you know that," he took off her sunglasses, looking into her shining eyes, "I must go"

"I...I just don't want you to go through this again," Sam said in bitter tone.

"And I never will, my rose. That bastards are in another DIMENSION. They would never get nor me nor you two here"

Another explosion followed.

"Fine," Sam sighed, "Go, I'll take Dani to safety"

"But I want to help!" Dani said, but closed her mouth quickly, when her parents looked at her. This looks immediately told her that this wasn't up for discussion.

"But if you will get a single scratch, I'll kill you," Sam warned.

-Later-

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children"

That was said by the huge red and black metallic person, with blue pipes coming from his back, moving to his hands. There was a piece of clothing over the lower part of his head, for who knows what reasons. The fight has transpired between him and the team of younger heroes at Happy Harbor Power Plant. And they were losing. Badly.

"We are not children!" Robin shouted, throwing his bird version of batarang at the metal figure. It just hit his chest, but he just flicked it away like nothing. The weapon exploded on a distance.

"Apparently, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence quite disturbing," he taunted.

"For a robot you sure seem way too witty," they heard a voice, familiar to the male members of the team, "who are you, anyway? Red Tornado wannabe?" He was blasted by the green beam, which appeared out of nowhere. Not far away, though.

"Ah, worthy opponent at last. Call me Mister Twister," the robot created tornadoes and sent them forward, making sure the invisible enemy wouldn't be able to avoid it.

And it worked. Before Danny could move, he was sent flying back. He landed on his feet, but was still forced to drop invisibility.

"You must be that 'Phantom' everyone seems to be talking about"

"Wow, so popular in so little time," Danny dodged another blast, "wish at school everything was like that!"

Superboy attacked Mr. Twister, but was sent flying at M'gann.

"I thought you have learned your limitations by now," the android said irritated. He broke the rule number one during the fight - never turn away from your enemy. Danny, after becoming invisible, slammed into Twister.

"I'm still here, you know," he said, rubbing his hand.

"M'gann, read his mind, find the weakness!" Kaldur ordered.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that?" M'gann asked confused.

"It's okay with the bad guys!" Robin yelled. M'gann tried to do as was told, but then a look of realization crossed her face.

"Hello, Megan," she facepalmed, "Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He is inorganic, an android! How much androids do you know who can create tornadoes?"

Danny was slammed into the wall nearby.

"At least two," he said, straightening his back with an unhealthy crack.

"Red Tornado sent us here," Kaldur said.

"After saying that we will be tested soon enough. It's his test!" M'gann insisted.

"Speedy called it, we are a joke," Wally grumbled as Aqualad punched the wall.

"I wouldn't be quite sure," Danny said, wiping away the dust from his clothes.

"How can YOU know, you don't seem to know anything around here!" Kid Flash shouted, annoyed.

"When I do researching, I search deep, Mr. West," their eyes widened in shock, "I know everything about every single hero and every single villain, starting from their powers and ending with their identities. And I have all rights to say that this is NOT a Red Tornado"

"It has to be," Robin snapped. Danny's green eye slowly started becoming redder.

"This game is so over!" Wally shouted.

"Fine!" Phantom spat, "don't complain later! I had more important things to do than babysitting you!" He dissapeared from sight. Heroes ran to Mr. Twister.

"We know who you are and what do you want!" Robin yelled.

"So let's finish this," Aqualad finished.

"Consider this ended," Twister said as dark clouds filled the sky.

"Impressive show but we will not indulge you! We will not engage!" Kaldur yelled. Lightning crackled in the sky.

"Uh...can Red Tornado do that?" Wally asked.

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic," the android said, amusement clear in his voice. Then he sent lightings at them.

Superboy jumped at Twister, making clear that he should change his tactic, but was immediately hit by lighting straight into chest. He fell in the crater.

The android hovered above the group, ready to make a finishing blow. Then he stopped.

"Fine then," he said, not really caring, "I won't deny you children have power, but playing hide and seek will not help me achieve my objectives. So stay concealed, because next time I will show no mercy," he said and flew off.

"What happened?" Wally asked, standing up.

"I placed the Bio-ship between us..." M'gann said. Superboy punched the wall.

"And that's supposed to make it right?! You tricked us into thinking Twister is Tornado!" He snapped.

"She didn't do it on purpose!" Kaldur said.

"It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened," Robin added.

"You are pretty inexperienced. Hit the showers, we will take it from here," Wally said to the sad martian.

"Stay out of the way," Superboy growled and walked away, only to hit the green wall.

"Going somewhere?" Phantom appeared, "I recall warning you, but, hey, why listen to the more experienced bloke, right?"

"Yeah? And where were you?!"

"By the side. In case things went too far. If not, ehm...M'gann was it? I would step in. You just needed a little lesson," Superboy growled and tried to punch him, but Phantom merely raised his hand and grabbed his fist, "Yes, I'm manipulative bastard. I lied, tricked people into doing what's needed. But that's all for a good purpose. You aren't an exception"

"What do you want?" Robin asked.

"I live here now. Sam doesn't want me to return in hero business. So, I try to make local protectors stronger, which so happened to be you. Yes, M'gann made a wrong assumption, but everyone can make a mistake. Finding the person to blame is low, it wouldn't take you anywhere. I got used to be a scapegoat, if I fought with bad guy, nobody thanked me, everyone only payed attention to how much was broken during the fight, like it's my fault. I left, and oh, how they begged for me to return...sorry, got carried to the side"

"The point is, M'gann made a mistake, and I'm sure she has learned from it. Now, we need a plan. Any ideas?"

-Later-

Twister was having fun, destroying everything on his way.

"Certainly this will get attention," he commented.

"You got ours, full and undivided!" Wally shouted as he delivered a kick to the android's chest, which proved to be ineffective.

"Immaterial and inefficient! You are a distraction I can not longer tolerate!"

However, Superboy attacked before he could do anything, delivering a punch right into his face. The android was pushed back, but steadied himself, before using another tornado, launching the nearby boat at his opponent. The same moment he did it, a powerful green blast hit him in the back.

"I'll show you, who is inefficient!" Danny shouted before sending another blast.

Other attacks weren't as successful. Twister watched for every movement, not letting anyone get closer. The only ones who could attack him, where Phantom and Boy Wonder. However, Robin's were deflected by the gusts of wind, and ectoblasts weren't as fast as lasers, they could be avoided. Team work could compensate it, though. Danny created a small 'grenade'. It was a piece of ice, with ectoenergy inside of it. Phantom threw it into his enemy, before shooting at it. It caused an explosion, big enough for Twister to notice. The second he turned to face Danny, Superboy attacked him again.

Suddenly Red Tornado landed between them, wearing blue and yellow cape. His face neutral, it was always like that, though.

"Hit the showers, boys. I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly you cannot," he ordered, sounding disappointed.

"But we have a plan now!" Robin pointed.

"This subject is not up for debate," Tornado said sternly.

"I started to believe you would never show up, Tornado," his wannabe commented.

"I'm here now," he stated and created another twister, sending it at his opponent. Twister counterattacked with one of his own.

"We are evenly matched, Twister," Tornado said, attacking again.

"No, we are not," Twister said, sending bolts of lighting at Tornado. He missed, however, it hit the boat behind Tornado and he got caught in explosion. He fell on the ground.

"Remain still, android," Twister approached the fallen enemy, "the re-programming shouldn't take long," he connected the wires to the hero's head. Tornado suddenly turned around, grabbing the wires. He suddenly revealed himself to be M'gann in disguise.

"Longer than you might think," she said with a grin.

"No!" Twister shouted in anger.

M'gann pushed him back with telekinesis towards her teammate. Superboy grabbed Twister's arm and punched holes through it. He then tossed the android into water, where Kaldur was expecting him. He grabbed the piece of boat and slammed it into Twister and electrocuted it, sending him flying out of the water. Phantom ignited his hands and sent double blast at the android, making him plummet to the ground. The chest part of the android opened, revealing scrawny man in green jumpsuit, who fell on the ground.

"Foul! I call foul!" He shouted in fear. Danny stepped closer, smirk shining on his face. Phantom grabbed the nearest rock with his telekinesis and dropped it on the man's head. The boys looked at him with wide eyes and opened jaws, except M'gann, who looked strangely calm.

"I don't know how things are done where you are from, but here we don't execute our captives!" Robin shouted angrily.

"Do you? Oops," Phantom chuckled, "I'm just messing with you, do you see any blood?" He was speaking the truth, not a single drop. When he lifted the rock, on the place of the man's head was just a pile of scrap metal.

"That's why I couldn't read his mind," M'gann said, smirking. Wally picked up the an android's eyeball.

"Cool, souvenir," he said, tossing it and putting it in his pocket.

"How come I'm the one breaking the laws of nature and you are the weird one?" Danny asked, not fond of Wally's idea. He shook his head, "Well, it's time for me to go"

"Wait!" Phantom stopped and landed back on his feet.

"Why did you help us?" Kaldur asked.

"You helped to save the most precious thing for me. I should have payed back. And I'm not answering what exactly"

"Is there any way to contact you?" Danny looked deep in thought.

"I'm not into heroing anymore, guys. I have more important things to take care of. But," he shrugged, "maybe I will be able to convince Sam"

"Who is she, anyway, your girlfriend?" Wally asked. Phantom laughed.

"No, she is not my girlfriend. She is my wife," everyone's eyes widened in shock. Danny lowered the top part of his clothes, showing a tatoo of the star, shining with green light, "she has the same symbol. It's like engagement rings. We have such a tradition"

"Who are 'we'?"

"Ghosts"

"Ghosts?" Wally huffed.

"Yes, ghosts, spirits, apparitions, souls of deceased beings, that's us. I believe I told you enough. Farewell"

Danny should have known that living in Happy Harbor wasn't the best idea.


	3. Chapter III: Drop Zone

It was a dark building in a place of the city, where nobody with clean mind would dare to enter. But one did. He was wearing black clothes, an unusual mask and dark cape. Everyone in that rotten city knew his name. Batman, The Dark Knight, etc. Why was he here? Well, he found one person, who can give a clue about mysterious figure Phantom was. After all, who can know about ghosts more than ghost?

Unnoticed, Batman leaped inside the window. Nothing to lighten the room, only darkness was present. Suddenly, something hit the Dark Knight in the back, sending him flying forward. The figure appeared where Batman just stood. He was wearing a white suit and pipe hat. The most interesting part was that his head was absent and only monocle was floating in the air, just like hat. Gentleman Ghost was his name.

"Ah, Batman, I'm so honored," he said in thick British accent. The ghost took out twin pistols and started to shoot.

Banging sounds filled the air as Batman avoided gun shots. He ducked, rolling to the side. Batman grabbed the nearest dusted table and threw it in the air. It protected him from bullets, and when the table fell on the floor, the Dark Knight was gone. Gentleman started to look around, searching for an invisible enemy. Ironical, since it's usually him, who dissappeares without a trace.

Batman didn't make him wait for too long. A powerful kick was delivered right into ghost's face, pushing him on the ground.

"Why are you here anyway?" Gentleman got up, "I don't recall stealing anything as of late," he took his cane and purple fire erupted from it. Batman threw a batarang, which caused a mini explosion. The ghost tried to get up again, but was stopped by the Dark Knight's boot on his chest. Gentleman could just phase through, but he was genuinely curious now. Escape could wait a little. Batman took out a photo.

"Do you know anything about him?" The photo had shown Phantom, fighting with Mr. Twister. Batman used cameras recordings to make a picture. He couldn't see his face, but Batman supposed it was one of the shock.

"H-how did he get here? I'm not returning to that stinking place!"

"So you know him?" The ghost snorted.

"Easier to find a ghost who DOESN'T. That's Phantom, but you should already know, being 'The world's greatest detective'. Young lad, seventeen, actually. Real name is Fenton. You can guess that he is not around here..."

"Explain"

"I'm not going to start an explanation how universe works. The only thing is that he is from another HUMAN dimension. If not for the fact that every peasant there knows how to deal with ghosts, I would move there, since there wasn't any heroes"

"And Phantom?"

"Oh, he used to be. It had something to do with what he is. Such a power he has, and he used it to protect that idiots. Foolish halfling"

"Halfling?"

"Yes, the kid is half ghost. How the hell he is still half alive is beyond me"

"How powerful is he?"

"Boy Scout will have a hard time against him," Gentleman shrugged, referring to Superman, "Phantom took down Pariah, after all. That man could snap all of you like toothpicks"

"Why did he stop being a hero?"

"I don't know exactly, maybe because of the death of his family. From what I heard, the one who killed them was a very creepy bloke, that's all I know. Now, if you don't mind, I need to stay low and hope Phantom doesn't find me to throw into prison"

With that the ghost teleported who knows where. This dissapearing acts seriously start to annoy Batman.

-Later-

"NOO!" Danny shouted, throwing controller away.

"Just deal with your defeat, Dad," Dani said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Looks like it's family trait," Sam laughed.

"That's not funny!"

"Oh, yes it is, honey. You were beaten by three years old," Dani's stomach started to grumble, "alright, I feel too lazy to cook today, how about pizza?"

"Yuppie!" Dani exclaimed. Just like her father.

Pizzeria wasn't far away, just a fifteen minutes of walking. They situated on seats near the windows. There wasn't much people inside, about five, not counting the personnel. Danny and Sam made orders and started to wait. Danny started to tell quietly about the fight he had, earning excited 'wows' from Dani and disapproving looks from his wife.

"And then I kicked..." Danny glanced out of the window and his eyes widened in shock.

"Crap," he muttered, "Sam, loose your hair"

"What?" She asked confused.

"Just do it," Sam did as was told and loosened her ponytail.

"Why do..." the doors of the cafe opened. There were two boys, a redhead and black haired, the last one was wearing sunglasses. Kid Flash and Robin, and Danny recognized them easily. He looked at Sam and she had a surprised expression on her face as well. Not good. And sponsor of that meeting was Murphy's law, because they sat nearby. Danny started to listen.

"Why are we here again?" Robin asked.

"Because we are out of food at The Cave," Phantom raised an eyebrow.

"Need I remind, that we are out of food because of you?"

"I have fast metabolism, bro. I can't do anything about it," Wally shrugged. Robin threw a glance at Phantom family, but moved his gaze to the other side quickly.

"They look familiar, don't you think?" Robin asked, gesturing to them, almost unnoticeable.

"Hm...yeah, the girl sure does...Let's talk to them," that was what Danny was afraid the most. He kept neutral look on his face, though. Sam looked at him worriedly. Two teammates walked to them.

"Hey there, haven't seen you around here before," Robin said.

"We are new around here," Danny responded with a smile, gesturing to the seat near. Better act casual to avoid suspicions, "Daniel Fenton," he outstretched his hand for a handshake, which they took, "Something wrong?" He added, seeing their thoughtful expressions.

"Nothing," they said synchronically. Danny chuckled.

"Anyways, that's my girlfriend Rose," he introduced Sam, using her second name, "and my little sis Danielle. Danielle?"

Dani snapped out of some kind of trance and blushed, she was too busy looking at Robin. Danny, being a clueless idiot he was, didn't notice her reaction. Her mother, however, did, and chuckled.

"So, what brings you in Happy Harbor?"

"Well," Danny drummed on table with his fingers, "I found a job here, so I moved in this town with Dani"

"Without parents?" Wally asked and was elbowed in the gut by Robin.

"They are dead," Danny said bluntly. The less he says, the less memories come back. Robin could understand that, he himself lost his parents at the young age.

"Oh, I didn't mean to..."

"That's fine," he interrupted, making a sip from soda can the waiter brought.

"And what about you?" Robin asked Sam.

"I...let's just say we don't get along with my father"

There was an awkward pause after that.

"I...guess we will go," Robin said and walked with Wally out of the cafe, not baring the weight of awkwardness. Danny breathed a sigh of relief, as well as Sam.

"That was close," he commented.

"I don't know, they seemed nice," Dani said, making Sam smirk.

"Oh, is that so? Or you meant one in particular?" She teased.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked confused. Sam rolled her eyes behind the sunglasses.

"THAT'S why we call you 'Clueless One'. Someone here got a crush"

"MOM!"

-Lateer-

Danny woke up during the night, being extremely thirsty. He quietly got up, trying not to wake up his wife. Floating through the walls, Danny got to the kitchen. With half closed eyes Danny poured some water in his glass, and when he almost made a first sip...

"Hello, Daniel"

Danny yelped in surprise and jumped high in the air, dropping the glass. There was a blue skinned man sitting on a chair, who was wearing a purple cloak and twirling the staff with clock on the top. Phantom glared at him.

"Thanks a lot, Old Man"

"Worry not, young Phantom. The time is frozen, no one will hear anything. But you still better pick the glass," Clockwork gestured to the glass floating in the air. Danny picked it up.

"So, why are you here?" He asked the Master of Time.

"Do you want to help that team again?" Danny blinked in surprise.

"Clockwork, what about..."

"Both you and your wife should know that there aren't former heroes, Daniel"

"Yes, I do. I just don't want to worry my family every time I walk out of the house"

"Your worry is understandable. But I can assure you that everything is going to be fine. Not without some losses, of course, but you will lose even more if you don't intervene"

Danny looked at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"I hope she wouldn't kill me. Alright, Clocky, what should I do?"

"Firstly, take on your pants"

-Later-

Clockwork created a portal for Danny to come through. He appeared on the edge of some tropical forest. Time Master said that it was island Santa Prisca, somewhere in Caribbean sea. He also mentioned that some kind of illegeal neo-steroid was produced here. The operation must go simply, Phantom just needs to find the team and from then follow them. Danny floated in the air, invisibly. It didn't take long to find the team, they aren't stealthy enough. The gun shots called his attention, and sure enough, there was a fight going on.

Kid Flash, who was wearing dark version of his outfit, was dodging the shots, when Robin jumped down from the tree and knocked out two soldiers.

"What's wrong with you, guys?! Remember, covert?! Why didn't you follow my lead?! Vanish in the jungle!" He yelled.

"That's what you were doing?! Way to fill us in, we aren't mind readers, you know!" Wally responded. Megan took down another soldier, "Er, I'm not, anyway"

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," Megan said with her hands on her hips

There was one more guard rounding up, but Danny appeared in front of him with a grin.

"Going somewhere?" He blasted the guard, knocking him out. The team was staring at him, "Hey there"

"How did you..." Wally started.

"My mentor sent me here," he yawned, "and at two am, no less"

"It's eight pm, dude" KF said.

"Ever heard about term 'time difference?'" Danny deadpanned, "anyways, we should tie this goons before they wake up"

Megan grabbed them with telekinesis and moved them to the trees. Danny just shot at them with green sticky mass, effectively tying them.

"What is this stuff?" Robin asked, taking some of it and rubbing it with two fingers.

"Ectoplasm, the essence of our very being. Has five conditions: Solid, liquid, light, gas and," he pointed at the bounds, "goo. You have seen solid walls made by me, blasts are the light, it is inside of me as liquid, like blood. The gas is hardest part. I'm still practicing. Turning into cloud sure helps a lot. Now let's return back to business, who are this guys?"

"I recognize those uniforms. They belong to the Cult of Kobra," Robin told.

"I'm certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremes were running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Caldur said.

"Agreed," Robin...agreed.

"So, Kobra wanted super cultists. Mystery solved. Radio Bats, and we will be at home..."

"Something doesn't add up, Kid," Danny commented, "They would have been a ton of muscles if they were using it. But they aren't. Actually, have you noticed that here are two groups with different uniforms?"

"That's why we aren't leaving until we know why," Robin added.

"Until YOU know why," Wally leaned closer to the Boy Wonder.

"This team needs a leader"

"And it's you. Dude, you are thirteen year old kid, who ducked out on us without a word!"

"Ha ha, and you are mature fifteen?! You blew our cover first chance you got!"

Two teens continued to argue as Danny leaned against a tree and opened energy drink. He needs everything not to fall asleep. He should have stepped in, but he teaches the hard way, just like Clockwork when...Phantom shook his head and made a sip. Suddenly he heard a huffing sound nearby and perked up.

"Look at them argue! Free yourself and take them while they are distracted," he heard someone saying.

"Quiet! For now I play along, they will give me what I need," the leader, Bane, answered.

Danny smirked. It's about to get interesting.

"Yeah, you don't even have superpowers!"

"Neither does Batman!"

"Duh, you aren't Batman!"

"Duh, closest thing we got!"

Bane laughed. "Such clever niños! But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance"

Megan kneeled nearby, a hand on her forehead, "There is a secret entrance, but he is also hiding something," she said, her eyes becoming pearly white.

"Ah, ah, ah, chika, Bane is not that easy," the giant of a man smirked. Megan removed her hand.

"He is mentally reciting football scores on Spanish. This could take a while"

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Bane said.

"But to be sure," Phantom stepped closer, "let me try"

"You have telepathy?" Kaldur asked surprised. Danny chuckled evilly.

"No, I have another method. Let me warn you, Bane, don't resist, and it will be fine. Try to kick me out and you will feel an extracruciating pain. That's how it usually works," with that Danny gagged the brute and disappeared.

It proved to be needed. For a brief second Bane's eyes flashed green as he started to shake like in convulsion and yelling in the gag. It didn't last long, about ten seconds, but it was still very creepy. Danny reappeared.

"I must say I'm impressed. No one managed to keep me out for so long before," he said, stretching his muscles, ignoring horrified looks from the rest of the team and removing gag with a snap of his fingers.

"What the heck was that?!" Wally shouted.

"Possession, duh," Danny rolled his eyes.

"You can't just do that with people!" Robin snapped. Phantom stepped closer to Boy Wonder, calm expression on his face.

"I CAN, bird brain. All this 'heroes are not supposed to do that' stuff was hit out of me the second lab scalpel was stuck in my chest," he growled, green eye flashing red. Everyone was too stunned by that information to react. Phantom took calming breath and his eye returned to normal.

"My apologies. The lack of sleep speaks for itself. Anyways, let El Macho lead the way"

-Later-

Bane showed them the factory. Being on high heel, they looked down at cultists working.

"Look at all that product," Robin commented.

"That's one big party," Danny added, signs of his outburst gone. Or at least he hid it well.

"The buy is going down, but if Kobra is not selling it to the usual suspects, then..."

"We need to identify the buyer," Aqualad finished.

"Just what I was thinking," Wally said.

"Yeah, you are a thinker"

"Cut it out, you two!" Phantom snapped, making them shut their mouths. Bane moved a huge rock out of the way, revealing a secret passage.

"The answers are this way," he said.

"So El Luchador is our leader," Wally commented, before being smacked by the ghost teen.

The walk went quiet for the most part, until Robin broke the silence.

"So...you said that no one managed to keep you out for so long," Danny looked at the Boy Wonder, "Was anyone able to force you out?" Phantom had a thoughtful look.

"Hm, that depends. My father is an interesting example. When he was possessed by Vlad, he was actually able to do that. But when I got him by surprise, then he didn't do anything"

"You did THIS to your father?!"

"Hey, back then it didn't cause any harm. It's different now," Phantom's face hardened, meaning he didn't want to talk about it.

"Who is this Vlad?" Megan asked.

"Vlad 'Fruitloop' Masters," he announced with faux bravado, "back at my home, he is a richest guy in the world. And...my godfather. He is a manipulative sneaky jerk, who had four objectives in his life: Kill my Dad, marry my Mom, make me his evil son/apprentice and have his own football team, but Green Bay wouldn't sell Packers to him"

Bane pressed a button revealing another hall. At Robin's 'All Clear', they went inside. The problem was, he disappeared yet again.

"Has the little fool already been caught?" Bane asked annoyed.

"No, Robin just does that," Kaldur explained.

"Way to be a team player," Phantom shook his head.

"Stay put, I'll get the Intel an come back before Boy Wonder," Kid Flash said, putting on his goggles and running away before anyone could object.

"Great chain of command," Bane said sarcastically.

"I recall that someone here lost his facility," Danny smirked, "I got it out of your skull," he explained before Bane glared at the white haired boy.

They hid outside, behind the boxes.

"It's a massive shipment," Aqualad commented, seeing the cultists working there and there with a huge number of boxes.

"Yeah, but they are only taking products out of line. They don't touch Venom," Superboy observed.

"Maybe freshness counts," Megan suggested. Phantom and Superboy perked up.

"Helicopter," they said synchronically.

Sure enough, there was a helicopter, which landed soon after. A man went out of it. He was wearing a grey armor, with hockey mask on his face. You could see that he had a blond hair. He came to the man in red robes.

"Lord Kobra," the man greeted.

"Sportsmaster. The shipment is ready," Kobra greeted in response as his assistant opened the case. Sportsmaster picked up a blue vial.

"The new Kobra-Venom?" He asked.

The leader of cultists gestured to the mutated giant, Mammoth, nearby, "A complete success. Our friends would not be disappointed"

Sportsmaster looked at the vial in his hand, "This is a game changer. Finally we can go mono-a-mono with the Justice League!"

He was unaware that one martian was above him.

 _"Aqualad, sending you an image of the buyer now,"_ She said telepathically.

Aqualad was on the catwalk, along with Superboy, Phantom and Bane. He had his eyes closed, seeing the image.

"Sportsmaster, he is the buyer. Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?" He growled at getting nothing, "Can't get to anyone. Com's jammed. We need a plan. Now"

"I have a suggestion," Bane said and jumped down, attacking the nearest cultists.

"He is pretty straightforward," Danny deadpanned. Suddenly they heard a growl and Mammoth jumped through the window right at the sidewalk. He broke it easily.

"I'll kill him," Phantom growled, floating on the ground.

"Destroy them!" Kobra ordered from behind the huge mutant. Mammoth lunged at them and Superboy charged at him in response.

The temperature in the room dropped as Phantom's eyes glowed blue. He moved his hand, and wall of ice rose from the ground, becoming a reliable cover. Phantom started to shoot ectoblasts at the soldiers, and Kaldur was attacking with shots of his own, using his water bearers. Danny heard Bane's chuckling somewhere and glared at the distance, before smirking.

Megan was invisible, throwing robed soldiers around with her telekinesis. Sportsmaster somehow realised where she was and threw a spear right at her. It stopped in the midair and grinning Phantom was holding it. Sportsmaster looked surprised for a moment, because there was another one behind the cover. Phantom threw the spear at Mammoth, who Superboy had a hard time with. It exploded, not managing to land a hit in time. Danny's duplicate dispersed.

Kid Flash zoomed nearby, knocking out another cultists.

"Miss Martian, the connection is jammed! Link us up!" Kaldur yelled. Megan did as was told.

 _"Everyone on line?"_ She asked.

 _"Yeah,"_ Superboy responded, being hit by Mammoth.

 _"You know it, beautiful,"_ Wally smiled.

 _"Good, we need to regroup_ ," Kaldur said.

 _"A little busy now,"_ Robin thought, standing in front of Kobra and his assistant.

"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to task me," Kobra said.

"Seriously? Whelp?" Phantom asked, floating upside down, "if only I got a penny every time I heard that word," Kobra growled.

"That's beneath me. Shimmer, take them!" Phantom burst laughing.

"You are named after pony from TV show?!" Robin started to snicker. Shimmer attacked the Boy Wonder, but he merely flipped her over, thereby starting the fight. Danny, however, focused on the cult leader.

"I don't have a Psychology decree, but I know your diagnosis," he grinned, "You have an oversized FOI, Mr. Burr," Kobra was stunned at the fact that Phantom knows his real name, "If you are wondering, what the heck FOI is, then I should explain. Feeling of Own Importance"

"How dare you..."

"Know your name? I read the information about every single villain and hero at dinner. And it included your secret identities as well..." Robin threw a flash grenade and dissapeared, "Hey!" Phantom shouted. Kobra chuckled.

"Looks like someone decided to ran," to his surprise, ghost boy merely laughed. The ignorance of situation he was in seriously starts to annoy the cultist.

"Yep, birdie ran," Phantom said, before disappearing with a Cheshire grin on his face, "It's time for me to go as well" disembodied voice said, laughing eerily.

"We need to retreat. Kid, clear a path," Kaldur ordered, knocking off the catwalk another cultist. Kid Flash zoomed through the lines of enemies, beating up more soldiers. The team ran into the tunnel, Superboy shutting the heavy door behind them with a press of the button. It wasn't effective much. Mammoth just broke through the door and cultists continued their chase.

"Superboy, the support beams!" Aqualad shouted. Superboy knocked down the nearest ones, Phantom took down more with a wave of his hand. The part of the tunnel crumbled down. Only Danny's eyes shone in darkness. Phantom ignited his hand and it flickered with green flames.

"Got any songs for a campfire?" He joked.

"What's wrong with you?!" Robin shouted. Danny looked at him.

"So you don't have any? Sad. It's coping mechanism, if that's what you are wondering about"

"Ugh, how could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked.

"Maybe you do have a lot of experience, but that's why you were left unprepared," Phantom said, "You fought alongside Bats, the guy who isn't very talkative. I was in a team once. And I learned hard way that the leader can't just vanish and run at the sunset. He can't expect everyone to follow an unspoken plan"

Robin turned back to him sharply.

"So I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands! Ah, who am I kidding, you should be a leader"

"Please, I could run circles..." Wally was cut off by the Boy Wonder.

"Wally, come on..."

"He is right, Robin," Danny said, "I'm not even part of the team, remember?" Everyone seemed to forget about this detail, since Phantom was present at their every mission. And they almost agreed with Robin. Danny seemed like the most experienced hero here, "And, if my vote means anything, I think Kaldur will make a great leader," he gestured to the atlantean with a smile.

"Hello Megan, it's so obvious!" Megan said gleefully.

"Coulda told ya," Superboy added.

"Ok," Wally agreed plainly. Phantom's smile became wider.

Aqualad stepped forward and put a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Then I accept this burden until you will be ready to lift it off my shoulder. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon," he said.

"Lasu la Plejbulojn gvidi vin," Phantom said, "Let the Ancients guide you," he translated. Kaldur turned to the others.

"Alright, our first priority is preventing the shipment from leaving the island"

"Funny, I had the same thoughts," Robin commented.

-Later-

"Sportsmaster is the buyer/supplier, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to get Blockbuster formula or to get Kobra do his dirty work," Robin said as they ran through the tunnel.

"Yeah, this guy has too big ego for that," Phantom added, floating nearby.

"And combining Blockbuster and Venom requires some major nerdage," Wally commented.

"I believe the expression is tip of the iceberg," Aqualad said. They almost made it to the exit, when they stopped. Bane was standing at the entrance.

"Haw, niños. I'm feeling...explosive," he said. The team looked up and saw about dozen bombs, hanging from the ceiling. Phantom was calm, hands behind his back.

"You betrayed us, why?" Kaldur asked, surprised.

Bane laughed. "I want my factory back. So I forced you into situation, where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly come here to avenge their sidekicks, and when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect," he almost pressed the button, when detonator was snatched out of his hand.

There was another Phantom behind him.

"With what? This thingy?" Danny clenched his fist and crushed the detonator.

Bane tried to attack, but was lifted in the air. The team still tried to understand what just happened. Phantom near them dissappeared. The real one started to laugh.

"I was following this brute since he called all the attention to us. The one with you was a duplicate. Now, what should we do with him?" He gestured to Bane.

-Laterr-

"The helicopter is optional, exalted one," a cultist said, bowing. Sportsmaster started to walk forward, but Kid Flash zoomed nearby, knocking out the cultists.

"Take the shipment!" Kobra ordered. Sportsmaster ran forward, but Superboy landed in front of him, creating a crater under himself.

"Go again?" Superboy asked. Mammoth didn't think long before attacking. However, he was immediately blasted by the stream of water from Kaldur, "Sorry, not the plan"

On the distance Kobra and Shimmer watched the upholding fight not amused. Suddenly the assistant was tied up by the green substance. Looking to the side, Kobra saw Phantom, floating above ground.

"Hey, Snake-face, ready for another round? Or you are afraid to dirty your hands?"

"Sometimes even a god must stoop to conquer," Kobra said, taking off his cloak.

"Please, I fought with the god before"

Phantom threw a punch at the cult leader, which he caught easily. The same thing happened with another hand. Phantom smirked and his eyes glowed brighter. Before Kobra could react, he shot the beams from them, pushing him back.

"What's wrong, Kobe-y?" Danny taunted as Kobra recovered quickly, "Old bones?"

Aqualad was taking on Mammoth easily, he wasn't able to stand against constant attacks. Kaldur removed his water bearer away and touched the water stream. The electricity sparkled, and as we all know, it doesn't mix well with water. Mammoth was shocked, literally, and fell unconscious. Meanwhile, Sportsmaster got up on the ramp of the helicopter, holding Megan in choking grip and shooting at Superboy.

"Thanks for the workout, but I gotta fly," he threw Megan at Superboy.

The helicopter took off and Robin appeared nearby, smirking and holding a trigger.

"And now..." it flew out of his hand and flew into Danny's, who appeared out of nowhere.

"Mine!" He shouted and pressed the button with childish grin. And laughed evilly when the helicopter exploded.

On the distance, Bane, hanging upside down, watched as the transport fell on his precious factory.

"Ah," Phantom sighed, ignoring Robin's glare, "that was wonderful. Now I need to return to my original"

The original was punched to the ground by his opponent.

"I'm plagued by mosquitoes," Kobra commented, annoyed.

"Aren't we all? Especially in tropics, bloodthirsty beasts," Danny said.

"Do you ever keep quiet?"

"Yep, but not now," Phantom smirked, "I'm merely playing for time"

Duplicate has returned to assist. Danny number two attacked Kobra from behind, but cultist grabbed the fist. However he wasn't standing on halfa so strong now. The original used the distraction and kicked Kobra on the leg. The villain almost lost his balance, but regained the position fast. Danny was able to get on his legs and high fived his duplicate. Kobra backed off.

"Another time, then," he said and dissappeared in the shadows.

"Hey, come back!" One Phantom shouted.

"You forgot your dignity!" The second one continued and they laughed their butts off.

The team searched for Kobra, but he dissappeared without a trace.

"We picked the right guy to lead. Automatically making you the one to explain this mess to Batman!" Robin said to Kaldur, laughing and pointing at the burning factory. Danny dispersed his duplicate and patted Aqualad on a shoulder.

"You aren't the only one here, pal. I need to return home before Sam wakes up. Or I'm dead. Again"

-Lateer-

Phantom returned home through the portal and quietly floated through the door. Danny tried to get to bed, when the lamp in living room lit up.

"Going somewhere?"


	4. Chapter IV: Family

Danny paled at the sight of his wife. Sam was sitting on an armchair with crossed hands. And her glare could burn a hole in the wall.

"Oh...hey Sam," he said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Where. Were. You"

"I...eh..." Danny tried to think an explanation. Sam stepped closer and picked up something from his shoulder.

"The soil," she rubbed it between her fingers, "Tropical," you can't fool her in this one.

"So what it proves? Maybe I was in some greenhouse?" He tried to sound confident, saying the smoothest excuse in the world.

"There aren't any greenhouses in here," Sam narrowed her eyes at her husband.

"Look, I just helped them out, there wasn't much"

"You are unbelievable! You are in this again, aren't you?!"

"Sam, this is for better good!" Danny raised his voice as well.

"For better good?! Then you should seriously look into your priorities, Daniel James Fenton!"

"Clockwork said it's for the best!"

"I don't freaking care what the old fart says! You can't just go in the middle of the night and expect me to be calm about it!"

"Sam, I'm not expecting you to like it! It's just who I am!"

The floor croaked slightly, causing seventeen years old couple look at one concrete point. They sighed.

"Dani, you can come out now," Danny said. Immediately their daughter appeared, wearing her green pajamas.

"What's wrong, Mom, Dad?" She asked.

"No, nothing is wrong, we were just having a discussion," Sam answered.

"It was very loud discussion," Dani commented.

"Don't worry about this, Dani. It just has something to do with..." Danny started.

"Someone's thickheadness," Sam finished, "Sorry for waking you up so early, honey, go back to sleep, please"

Dani walked back to her room, as her parents told her. Danny tried to say something, but Sam raised her hand.

"I'm going to sleep," with that she went into their room, causing Danny to sigh.

-Later-

Danny didn't want to push his luck, so he bunked on a sofa. It was very uncomfortable, and lack of pillow and blanket didn't help the matters. The sun was already shining slightly through the line of horizon, and Phantom couldn't fall asleep. Finally abandoning the attempts, Danny just stared at the ceiling. It was the first fight they had, and he didn't like it in the slightest. But then again, why should he? They are together since they were fourteen, and married for year and a half, so there was something to be proud of.

Phantom hadn't noticed how it was eight am already. He needed to be at his 'job' at nine. They used money from royal vault and didn't feel the need, but for cover Danny started to work in local bookshop. It was very tiring sometimes, since he also had the whole dimension to care about. Sam of course offered to work instead of him, but Danny was very stubborn. Very.

But now he didn't want to go anywhere before solving the current issue. Getting up, he decided to approach his main enemy - the cooker. Putting a frying pan on it, he narrowed his eyes at it.

"Alright, I don't like you, you don't like me. But I need your help, so please, don't do anything funny"

Danny tried to remember how to cook that pancakes Sam often made. Taking the bowl, he started to add ingredients: the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, salt and...what was next? Nutmeg, yeah, nutmeg. He just hoped he got the proportions right, mixing all this stuff. In a smaller bowl he added milk, eggs, molasses, maple syrup, butter and vanilla extract. After whisking he got a fully combined mixture, which he poured into the bigger bowl. Everything was ready, so Danny started to put the mass on the pan. Of course, half of them was burned until the point they became pitch black.

Still, it could be called success. He also made some tea and toasts and put them on a tray as well. Danny quietly walked into the bedroom and put the tray on a table near the bed. Then he took the list from the notebook and wrote something on it, before putting it near the food and walking away.

-Later-

Dani woke up at eleven, as she usually does when she didn't need to go anywhere. Slowly she remembered the events of the last night, which made her worry. As was said earlier, her parents never had any fights. Dani got dressed and went to eat. By this time her mother was working in the garden, while Danny was at his job.

Dani helped herself a bowl of fruitloops and decided to go for a walk after breakfast. It was a cloudy day outside, luckily it wasn't raining. The sun is important for both her and her mother. Sam could feed from it, like a plant. Dani could as well, but if for Sam it could be a full meal, for her it was a snack, sunlight couldn't replace a normal food for her.

She put her hands into pockets of her blue hoodie as she walked past another bus stop.

"Hey!" Dani heard a familiar voice. Turning around, she blushed slightly, seeing who it was. Robin waved to her, wearing the same sunglasses, despite the absence of need.

"Hey," she greeted weakly as Robin came closer.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing much," Dani shrugged, "just wandering around"

"Is something wrong?" Robin asked concerned. He could see it in her look.

"Well, Da...Danny and Rose had a fight this night"

"And what was that about?"

"I don't know, I woke up when they started to shout. But it must have been something big...they never had fights"

"Well, you can't expect them to always get along, right?"

"I know," Dani mumbled, "It's just...they two are like a parents to me, since ours...well you know that already," Robin nodded slightly.

"I understand, more than you think, actually. I lost mine when I was nine years old," Dani's eyes widened, "they were acrobats in circus, and...there was an accident, the rope wasn't able to carry them"

"I'm sorry," Dani said. Robin smiled slightly.

"Don't be, it's not your fault. Oh, just remembered," he chuckled, outstretching his hand, "I'm Richard, but everyone calls me Dick," Dani smiled and took his hand.

"Danielle Jasmine Fenton"

-Later-

Danny was sorting the books in alphabetical order, because customers didn't seem to care about it. Phantom didn't mind much this time, he needed to be alone.

"Yo, Danny!" Named half ghost turned left and saw Johnny 13, without his girlfriend Kitty, though. Phantom heaved a sigh.

"Johnny," he said, putting another book on a shelf, "is there a reason you are here?"

"Jeez, Danny, why so gloomy?"

"Me and Sam had a fight," Johnny's eyes widened and jaw dropped in shock.

"Dude...I thought I would never see the day," it earned a portion of infamous 'scary eyes' from Phantom. Johnny raised his hands in surrender.

"Look, pal. I didn't mean to offend. It's just...unexpected"

"Well yes it is," Danny said irritated, "now would you kindly to answer my question?"

"Danny, that's not how things are done," Phantom put the last book away and leaned against a shelf, showing that he is listening, "yeah, such things happen, you can't avoid it. Look at me and Kitty. We fight almost daily, and nothing is wrong. Even the biggest lovebirds in the Ghost Zone, namely our favorite royal couple, are meant to. Me and Kitty also freaked out after first time, everything will be fine pretty fast, bro"

"I hope you are right, Thirteen," Danny sighed, "Sorry for blowing up on you"

"Nah, that's fine, dude, but...can you lend me a few bucks?"

-Later-

Danny went back to his apartment, with butterflies hitting the walls of his stomach. He opened the door slightly and walked inside. The only sound was coming from a TV, which was in the living room. Sam was sitting on a sofa, her eyes closed. Danny sat nearby quietly.

"Hey Sam," he said. Her eyes opened and a small smile crossed her face.

"Hey"

"Hm...did you like breakfast?" Danny asked.

"A bit too sugary, burned at the sides and barely edible, but I liked it"

"Really?"

"Yes, but next time let the professional handle it," they chuckled, "Danny...I just wanted to say...I'm sorry...for overreacting..." Danny's eyes became wide as saucers.

"Sam," he said, gently grabbing her chin and looking right into two eyes, shining with emerald light, "You don't need to apologize for anything...I should have known that it will be like that"

Before Danny could react, or even blink, Sam kissed him on the lips deeply, wrapping hands around her beloved husband. Not that he minded, completely opposite, not thinking for long, he returned the kiss, hugging her. They didn't know how long they were like that, but surely for long. They were interrupted by the loud squeal. The couple looked at their daughter with a smile on their faces.

"Yay!" Dani exclaimed, joining the family hug, "Mommy and Daddy love each other again!" Her parents' eyes widened in shock.

"Dani..."

"We never stopped loving each other. Your mother was just worried about me, that's all"

"But why were you angry?" Dani asked Sam, confused. She smiled in response.

"Yes, I was. I was angry at him for worrying me when he could just not do it. But I forgot that he is way too stubborn for his own good"

"Hey?!"

"You know it's true, hon," everyone laughed, "And...if you want to risk your neck so much...then you may do it," Sam added.

"Sam, you don't really have to do this..." she shook her head.

"Danny, I was being stupid. I should have known that it's impossible to stop the ghost from fulfilling it's obsession. So I wouldn't stop you"

"I love you, my rose"

"I love you too, snow head"


	5. Chapter V: Memories

It was a normal day in Metropolis, people were hurrying to get to their jobs and schools. Suddenly the suspender cables snapped and all hell broke loose. Cars started to crash into each other. And, as cliché orders, the bus swiveled to the side after being hit by a corvette and started to fall from the edge. As was said, a normal day.

Superman flew under the bridge and held it. He then started to meld the ripped parts together, using his heat vision.

Superboy landed on the ground with a crashing sound, breaking Superman's concentration. He grabbed a car from the side and carried it to the center of the road. Meanwhile the school bus was ready to fall over edge, so younger Kryptonian attempted to pull it back. However when he tried, Superman beated him to it.

Getting up from his butt, Superboy walked to his original.

"I had that," he said in his defense.

"I didn't want to take the chances. As it is, your landing could have destabilize the entire bridge," Superman informed.

"It didn't"

"But it could have. We don't know yet the limits of your powers," Superman said sternly.

Superboy looked away, "Well, maybe...You could, you know, help me figure that out"

"Batman's got that covered," Superman's com beeped.

"I know, but..."

"Superman...wait, Arrow, slow down. What's attacking? No, I'm definitely available," Superman said, totally ignoring Superboy's abandoned look, "Coordinates? Acknowledged, I'm on my way," he looked back at his clone.

"Sorry, Super...boy. Duty calls," with that Superman flew away. Superboy looked sad, before sadness was replaced with anger. Suddenly he heard a coughing sound behind. Superboy turned around and saw Phantom himself standing behind with a sad smile on his face. He was wearing the sunglasses.

"He is being a fruitloop, isn't he?" Everything Superboy did was nod, "care for a walk? I'd like to discuss about something"

-Later-

"Why are you here?" Superboy asked as he and Phantom found a safe place to talk, namely warehouse. Danny took of his hood.

"Preciously to talk about your relationship with Big Blue"

"There is nothing to talk about," he answered with crossed hands. White haired teen chuckled.

"You would be surprised how wrong you are"

"Well then, what do you want to say, keep your chin up and get over it?!" Superboy shouted. Danny leaned back on a crate nearby, calm as stone.

"Hm, nope, it will be pointless. But you still better calm down"

"Calm down?! What if I don't want to calm down?!" He hit the nearest crate and punched a hole in it.

"Jeez, someone paid money for this shipment. Look, Superboy, being angry like that wouldn't get you anywhere. It will doom your team one of those days. I can't allow that"

"And what are you going to do, fight me?" Phantom smirked.

"If I did, it would be a beating, not a fight"

It seemed to struck the point. Superboy attacked, without noticing that the smirk became wider. Danny didn't have bones of steel, so blocking the angered Kryptonian's punch with the face would be a no go. So he merely sidestepped and another innocent crate was hurt.

"Oops, I think you should apologize to it," Danny said.

Superboy threw another punch with the roar, but Phantom just became intangible.

"You can't hurt me," he turned to Superboy, "but I can hurt you," Danny kicked his opponent, sending him flying at the wall. Phantom shot with blue blasts at Superboy, freezing him to the wall.

"You lose"

"Release me!" Superboy shouted, trying to break the ice without results.

"As you wish," Danny snapped his fingers and Kryptonian fell on the ground, "now you see what I mean? I provoked you and you took the bait. Let the anger get the best of you and you are as good as dead. You control it, not the other way around"

"So you are telling me how to feel now?!"

"I didn't say that"

"Why do you care? Nobody else would go this far, and you aren't even part of the team!"

"This information is a confidential, so if I tell you, don't you dare to spill it to anyone else, deal?" Superboy nodded grudgingly, "you aren't the first clone I met," his eyes widened in shock at this information.

"I already told you about my godfather, but there was much more to that. He has done a lot of unforgettable things. I was stranded with my mother and without my powers in the forest, with mutated animals on our tail. He became the major of my hometown just to make my life miserable...okay I started that one, I admit. Anyways...when I said that I would never join him enough times, he decided to go more 'easy' way..."

"He cloned you," Superboy realized, receiving a nod from ghost teen.

"Yes. We don't have super advanced labs back home, so the process was pretty new. Vlad made several attempts. First four...they were just bodies, almost mindless, who melted into goo after every sneeze, I'm not even talking about using powers. But fifth...he tried another way. He took, I don't know how...let's call them needed elements from me and Sam. That's why I'm here, I was at the place of Superman, but unlike him, we two accepted Danielle instantly," Superboy looked confused, "I told you, cloning is new. He made an eleven years old girl"

"But what makes her different?!" He asked, a bit upset. Danny sighed.

"Sam is...unique. It's because of her ancestry. We learned about that after our marriage. Sam is not able to have children, that's why she was so happy when Dani appeared. She got a daughter she always wanted to have. And why me? All of this happened in hard time for me, when I saw all my family die in front of my very eyes. Superman had nothing of that, so it will take longer for him to accept you"

"Then what should I do with Superman?"

"Prove him wrong. Just keep being a hero you are, prove that you aren't just a mere weapon made by Cadmus to destroy him. Then we all will laugh when he will ask for forgiveness," Superboy smirked.

"Will do"

-Later-

Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent were sitting at Bibbo's Dinner. After making an order they got down to business.

"Something tells me this isn't about the dessert," Clark commented sarcastically.

"The boy needs you," Bruce said bluntly.

"No he needs you. He needs Red. I'm just a constant reminder of what he is not," Superman objected.

"I'm afraid you are dead wrong here, pal"

They turned to the source and saw a white haired teen with sunglasses, despite it being a late evening. It wasn't hard to figure out who he was.

"What are you talking about?" Clark said, playing dumb. Danny threw him a deadpanned look.

"Don't try to fool me, Mr. Kent. I know that you are wearing your costume under the shirt," Clark's eyes widened in shock, which caused Phantom to smirk. He joined them at the table.

"I believe you have questions"

"How did you..."

"Figure out?" Danny snorted, "My mentor knows everything, even your deepest secrets. He just told me, that's all. But it still not hard to find out. Kent only wears a glasses and that's all, take them off and everyone will find out. As for Mr. Wayne...your toys are not cheap, and dark colors tell about some mental trauma, and boom! So you need to find a rich guy with sad event in life, such as parents' death, and one is sitting next to me"

Batman and Superman stared at the teen in front of them. If you put it like that, then yes, it was a miracle nobody else figured out.

"And what are you going to do about this information?" Bruce asked. Danny shrugged.

"I'm on your side, guys," he made a zipping motion across his mouth, "my mouth is shut. I wanted to talk with Supey here"

"Why?"

Phantom took out a photo from his pocket and gave it to Clark, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. It was a picture of Danny himself, standing besides the girl his age, with another one, younger, sitting on his shoulders. They all were smiling widely.

"Who are those?" Clark asked.

"The one near me is Sam, my wife," their eyes widened.

"Aren't you too young for that?"

"Maybe by human standards, but not ours," Danny said, leaning forward.

"It's still very irresponsible," Bruce said, "you are endangering them," Danny looked at him hardly. It surprised the Dark Knight, he himself saw that look, when he glanced on himself through the mirror.

"Believe me, I thought the same way a few years ago. But it didn't save my family from being killed. So don't you dare to give me this lecture," Phantom said, the glow from his eyes noticable through the sunglasses.

"Who is the other girl?" Clark tried to change the topic. Danny smiled slightly, meaning he was glad to.

"She is the reason I'm the only one who can relate to you. This is Danielle, my clone," Superman was too stunned to ever say something.

"Look, Clark," Phantom said, "I know that call it unusual will be an understatement. I know that you get a huge responsibility you didn't plan. I know that you feel violated. But this guy is still here, you need to get over how and why he came to be. Just like me and Sam did with Dani"

Clark stayed quiet, looking at the picture.

"Trust me on this. He needs his father. He needs YOU"

Superman got up, "I'm not his father," he said before leaving.

"And they say I'm stubborn," Danny muttered, getting up as well.

"Wait," Bruce said, causing the teen to look at him, "is there any way we can arrange the meeting?"

"What for?"

"You are always around our protégés. We need to be sure..."

"That I'm not a danger to them, yeah, yeah. I'm free tomorrow evening, how is that?"

"Very well"

-Later-

"That's pretty smart," Danny commented, causing Sam to smirk.

"Well someone needs to be"

"Yeah, wait what?!"

His wife only laughed. The idea was to arrange the meeting place in the forest, so Sam will have an advantage in case things went south. Even if she believes in Danny, Sam still doesn't trust the locals. It was an open ground, surrounded by, you guessed right, trees. There was nobody else there.

"Hm, where are they?" Danny asked, looking around. Sam closed her eyes.

"Five of them are coming"

"Jeez, sometimes you scare me, hon"

Sure enough, a few Justice League members soon arrived. Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter. Danny opened his arms widely with a grin.

"Hello there!"

"You are late," Sam added with crossed hands.

"Some circumstances have arisen," Batman said without explaining details.

"So...what's the plan?" Danny asked. Manhunter came closer.

"With your allowance I will look inside your mind"

"You must be kidding," Sam said.

"Sam," Danny looked at her, "there is nothing wrong"

"Fine," she said, crossing her hands, "but try something funny and you are dead"

"I can assure you that it's absolutely safe, ma'am"

"Go ahead," Danny said, "but be warned my mind is clingy thing"

-Later-

"Where are we?" Flash asked, rubbing his forehead. Looking around, the League members saw only darkness.

"I warned you," everyone turned to Danny.

He looked differently, though. Left half of his face had white hair and green eye, while his right half had pitch black hair, unnoticeable if not for his glow, and blue eye. There was a cane in his hands.

"My mind is clingy. It has been like that for a while"

"Explain," Batman ordered...asked for. Danny wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"It's like a trap. Catches anyone who will attempt to get under that skull," Phantom tapped himself on a forehead, "Don't worry, though. I wouldn't hold you here, but we are here for a specific reason, aren't we? Follow me"

With nothing else to do, the leaguers followed the ghost teen.

"Why do you have a cane?" Arrow asked.

"It looks cool, isn't it?" Danny laughed, "Anyways, let's start from the beginning, shall we?" The door appeared and the group walked inside.

(A.N. Danny from the memories will be called like that, the real one is referred as Phantom)

It was a room with metal walls, full of some strange stuff: cylinders full of glowing green liquid, weird metal constructions shaped like guns, blueprints of yet another strange things. There were two people fussing around: the first one was a huge, and author means huge, man in orange jumpsuit, near him was standing a woman in blue jumpsuit.

"That's where we start," Phantom said, causing everyone to look at him. He pointed the cane on two scientists, "Jack and Maddie Fenton, two leading ectologists, official most wacky people in the town of Amity Park and my parents"

"Ectologists?" Batman asked.

"They studied ghosts," Phantom chuckled, "brilliant ones for that matter. If they hadn't focused on this...unusual science, they would have created a lot of magnificent things. But even then..." there was a mini explosion behind Phantom, "a lot of their inventions tended to blow up"

"Mads, bring the Fenton fire extinguisher!" Jack shouted as the scene became blurry.

It was replaced by the scene of the school hallway. That wasn't what the leaguers were expecting. Phantom noticed their reactions and chuckled.

"Unexpected, I know"

"Why are we here?" Batman asked.

"You wanted to know about me, so you get it," Phantom gestured to himself from the memories, who was standing near his locker.

"FENTINA!" The blonde jock wearing a white and red jacket shouted. Danny gulped and tried to get away, but was grabbed by the jock.

"H-hey Dash," Danny said nervously.

"I got a F on my Biology test, so you are getting your daily beating earlier than usual," Dash raised his fist and Danny closed his eyes, preparing for the hit to strike.

"Dude," Asian looking jock said, "Mr. Felluca is coming!"

"Another time then, Fenton," Dash said before shoving Danny into locker and walking away.

A bit less than a minute later a dark skinned boy rounded the corner, looking into his PDA. Danny was hitting the door of his locker. The boy's eyes widened and he opened the locker, letting black haired teen out. Danny rubbed the sore parts of his body.

"Thanks Tuck, I owe you one," he said.

"Let me guess, Dash again?" Tucker asked a rethoric question. Danny still nodded.

"Glad to know I'm still his favorite," he said sarcastically.

"By the way...I have something for ya," Tucker showed Danny something on his PDA.

"What is this?" He asked confused.

"Dash is way too predictable. This is his usual schedule, so you can avoid him and his goons"

"Thanks, dude," the scene became blurry again.

"Tucker was my best friend since kindergarten," Phantom explained, "we have gone through good and bad, everything together. However they didn't get along with Sam. Carnivore and Vegetarian, you can guess what happened. And I was always caught in the middle of their arguments," he chuckled, "there is one very important thing. I'm like that because of Tucker"

They have returned to Fenton's lab. However there was one difference. There was a huge hexagonal construction near the far end of the lab. Danny and Tucker were standing there and talking about something.

"Ah, here comes the interesting part," Phantom commented, "what you are witnessing now is how I came to be. A bit stereotypical, but still. This is a 'Ghost Portal', my parents had worked on it since they were in college, along with Vlad. I don't understand why they had returned to it after the prototype sent their best friends in hospital for ten years"

"Dude, it's just a photo," Tucker said.

"Fine. Just a photo," Danny said, putting on white and black jumpsuit. He stepped inside the portal.

"And what's supposed to happen?" Flash asked.

"I tripped," Phantom answered, before terrifying screams of pain filled the air as the portal turned on. Phantom shook his head.

"Yes, my parents were brilliant, but they often had their moments. Putting the on button inside of the portal is one of them"

"You can't be serious"

"Oh, yes I am. And what happened? 'The accident' turned me into this. Can you imagine how it felt to be ripped apart and rebuilt again? Well I can tell that it wasn't pleasant. I'm half ghost and half human, both and neither. Let's continue," Phantom walked away. There was another door. Before opening it, he looked at the leaguers hardly.

"We will need to go through this room. Ancients help us all"

The room was poorly lightened, just one torch on the opposite side from...the cage. It was dark there, and only two red shining orbs were looking at them. Phantom had a red eye as well, but these were the ones of malice, filled with nothing but hatred.

"Ah, Daniel, how nice of you to visit at last," the figure in darkness greeted.

"Don't be so happy, Dan. We are merely passing through," Phantom said with a disgust in his voice.

"How rude," Dan walked closer. The heroes have seen many villains, but this one still creeped them out, except Batman. It was a man in mid twenties, with blue skin and muscular figure. His hair were a raging white fire.

"Oh, and who are these, another friends of yours?"

"That's not your business," Dan gave a fanged grin.

"Completely opposite, dear boy. I'm inside of you, remember?"

"Remark, you are inside the cage," Phantom smirked.

"We both know that this cell can't always keep me inside. I took the wheel once, and because of that you are still walking!" Dan shouted, hitting the bars.

"And you are NOT getting out anymore," Phantom turned around and walked away.

"I WILL GET YOU, DANIEL! JUST LIKE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS! YOU CAN'T STOP THE INEVITABLE!"

The door behind the group closed loudly with Phantom's swipe of the hand. He was talking calming breaths.

"What the hell was that?!" Arrow asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Everyone has inner demons. And that," Phantom gestured to the door, "was mine"

"'I took the wheel once', what does it mean?" Batman questioned. In response, Phantom waved his hand.

The scene has changed. It was a lab, but it was different. It had white walls and ceiling. Danny in ghost form was strapped to the table, motionless, dripping blood and ectoplasm. Suddenly the man entered the room. He wore a white suit.

"Wakey wakey, scum, Agent A ordered to move you to another room," the agent said, "we need to clean this filth from the floor"

Danny hadn't moved a bit.

"I said get up!" The agent came closer and hit the half ghost.

Phantom glared at the scene uphold. However, he knew what is about to happen. Suddenly Danny grabbed the agent's hand and squeezed it, making the agent scream in agony. Danny's eyes became crimson red, skin became white as sheet of paper.

"Sorry, Daniel can't answer the call. Leave your message after crack!" He grinned evilly, before hitting the agent's head about the end of the table. He fell on the floor, dead, "about f*ing time," Danny walked out of the room. The leaguers prepared to go after him, but the scene dissappeared yet again.

"You can guess I'm not very proud of that," Phantom said sadly.

"Who was that?" Flash asked, ready to hurl.

"Ghost Investigation Ward, commonly referred as Guys in White. Created to capture and study us. Their methods...well you saw them"

"And what happened next?"

"I killed them. Killed them all. Because what else could I do? They are government, you can't just throw them into prison. In the eyes of the government I was the one deserving it. I don't have a problem with killing since then"

"If you kill a killer the number of killers in the world remains the same," Batman said. Phantom gave a sad smile.

"That's why we killed hundreds of them. I guess that's the end of our trip. Farewell"

-Later-

The heroes woke up at the same place in the forest. Danny was sitting near Sam, cross-legged. He smiled at them.

"So, you learned about me more. What do you think?"

They looked at each other and nodded. Batman came closer.

"Would you like to join the League?"

A.N. Dan isn't real, he is only imprint in his mind, if that's what you think about.


	6. Chapter VI: Infiltrator

A.N. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the chapter is here. I had rewritten it so many times that I have lost count. Hope it lives to your expectations. Also, prepare for some fluff.

"Mom, where is Dad?" Dani asked Sam, causing her to sigh, while looking around.

"I don't know, sweetie, he has to be-" She was interrupted by a kiss on the cheek.

"Right here," Danny finished the phrase with a smile. Sam smiled too, but she still narrowed her eyes.

"You were almost late." Her husband smirked.

"Almost doesn't count. Did you really think I'd miss my princess' first day at school?" Dani beamed at him brightly, before Danny started to ruffle her hair with a smile.

"Don't do that," Sam stopped him. "We spent the whole morning trying to comb it." She tried to fix the mess on Dani's head.

Danny noticed that his daughter didn't look as eager as before. "Is something wrong, Dani?" he asked.

"No, no, I'm alright, I just...what if I don't find any friends like you said?"

Danny smiled softly.

"Sweetie, I'm sure that you will. You have friends in the Ghost Zone, right?" At Dani's nod, he continued, "It shouldn't be harder here. And if some jerk tries to mess with you, just give him a good punch in the needed place," she snickered at that, while Sam just rolled her eyes behind the sunglasses with amused smile.

"Danny, stop corrupting our child," she said. Danny raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm just telling her what to do in this kind of situations." His look then became serious. "But honestly, there's no reason to search for a fight, Dani. Believe me, just be yourself, and everything will be alright." Dani nodded, smiling again.

"I still wonder how you managed to get documents," Sam said curiously. Danny smirked.

"Well, a little bribe there, a short possession in some moments..." he whispered.

"But you hate possession!"

Phantom smiled, hugging Sam with his hand.

"Everything for our little girl, my dear," Danny pulled Dani in a group hug as Sam closed her eyes in content.

Even if her husband was a huge dork at the times, she still loved him. Sam simply adored his handsome look, his kind and caring nature, even his constant jokes for no reason.

Then Danny saw that they got weird looks from people around, most probably because of such interaction between seventeen year olds with a preteen girl. "Sammy, people are staring."

"So?" She looked up at him. He was foot taller than her, after all.

Danny couldn't resist this look on her beautiful face. Gently cupping her chin, he lowered his head and passionately kissed Sam on lips. Surprised at first, she quickly recovered and returned it, wrapping her arms around his neck and grabbing his hair. After some time she pulled back, making Danny pout sadly.

"Alright, stop," Sam chuckled.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"The principal might demand to meet with our parents, and we are getting late," Sam reasoned, rubbing his cheek with her thumb finger.

"Let's go then!" Dani said eagerly.

-Later-

"Crap, where is it?" Dani mumbled to herself. She was ready to bet that Minotaur would feel homey here, since the school was one huge labyrinth. She hit her head about the wall slightly in exasperation.

"Isn't it a bit early for that?"

She turned around and saw her father smirking down at her.

"Wait until the end of the year," he said, amused.

"Okay, but do you guys know where to go?" Dani asked, crossing her hands. Danny and Sam raised their eyebrows, before pointing at the nearest door with the 'Principal' nameplate.

Dani hit her head about the wall again.

"Now, now, keep your brains intact before lessons."

Danny gave little Phantom a gentle push inside the room. At the desk was sitting a middle aged stern looking woman with red hair, who hadn't looked up from her papers, until Sam coughed to call attention.

"Yes, what do you need?" The principal asked, finally acknowledging their presence.

Dani rubbed her hands uncomfortably and looked up at her parents.

"We have sent papers to you, Miss Darkholme," Danny answered, unfazed by the woman's look. He had seen much worse.

'Great, she even has own evil last name,' both Dani and Sam thought sarcastically. Miss Darkholme looked up from the papers.

"You must be Mr. Fenton." At Danny's nod she started to look in her desk. "Sit down." It sounded more like an order, but the family did as was told.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions first. I take it that this is Danielle?" She pointed her pen at the youngest girl.

"Yes, that's me," Dani responded shyly. Seeing her discomfort, Sam took the smaller girl's hand in hers, calming her down a bit.

"Very well, now, what relationship do you have with Danielle, Mr. Fenton?"

"I'm her older brother. I've taken a guardianship after our parents' deaths."

"Are you of age?"

Danny nodded, "Yes, I am."

"And you are..." the principal looked at Sam.

"My name is Sam," she answered. "Me and Danny are married."

The principal blinked in surprise, but tried not to show it. She was a professional, after all.

"Have you finished education yourself?" She turned back to Danny.

"I'm afraid no, I needed to find a job; I left during senior year."

"Has your sister studied somewhere before?"

"She studied at home," Sam said. "We are friends with some very educated people and they taught Dani what is needed."

It wasn't very hard to teach the princess, since the basics were put in her during Vlad's experiments. The fruit loop didn't want to bother educating her. The full extent of this knowledge was yet to be found out, but Dani proved to be very intelligent. 'Must have come from her aunt,' as Danny put it.

The principal hummed.

"Then she will require taking a few exams, so we can understand which class she should be placed into. Does that satisfy you?"

Danny and Sam looked at each other, before shrugging.

"Yes, pretty much. What do you think, kiddo?" Danny looked down at his daughter.

"Well, it's nice, I guess."

"Then we are fine with it," Phantom said to the principal.

"Good. Miss Fenton, you need to go to the Class 206; your exam will take place there."

The young family walked out of the room and the smaller girl released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Damn, she is creepy," the ghost girl said uncomfortably.

"Language, young lady" Sam responded sternly, before giving her a soft look. "You shouldn't worry about this, honey."She moved Dani's raven locks from her eyes. "Just don't break any rules and everything will be fine."

Dani nodded. "Okay, Mom,"—she hugged her mother—"Love ya."

"Hey, what about me?" Danny pouted, which made the small girl giggle.

"You too, Daddy." She hugged him too. "I love you both."

"We love you too, sweetie." Sam kissed her forehead. "Behave."

"Sure thing, bye." Dani let go of her parents and ran searching for needed classroom.

Sam put her head on Danny's shoulder with a small smile of content on her face. She couldn't be happier.

-Later-

They both loved moments like this. With all the work Danny had, and with Dani added to the list of their responsibilities, Danny and Sam rarely had time to be so close together, except at night. Only the two of them, without anyone to interrupt their bliss. He was lying on the sofa, with his wife taking rest atop of him, with her hands and head on his chest. They hadn't spoken; they simply enjoyed embracing the person they loved more than anyone else in any of the worlds.

Both young adults found it funny. It just sounded so cheesy that they could actually taste it. They were just main heroes of their own soap opera. How they met, how eventually fell in love, all of this sounded so perfect. That's what some call soul mates, but neither of the two would ever call themselves that. They just weren't those types of people, especially Sam. But that's what it was, in anything but the name. Danny loved the feeling of warmth whenever he just hugged his wife. His ice core made it painful for him to be exposed to heat, but this warmth he never felt anywhere else since he became a halfa. Such a wonderful feeling it was. Sam felt the same way towards the raven haired man; his natural coldness was so refreshing, and so unnaturally full of life...she just couldn't get enough of it.

Danny didn't know what time was it when he woke up, but the sun was halfway below the horizon already, and the sky was full of red and orange. His eyes widened slightly once he realized that they should have picked their daughter up by now, but then he felt something in his hand. It was a note.

'Hope you had a nice sleep, Mom and Dad. I'm going for a walk if you don't mind. Don't worry, I'll return by the dinner, swearsies.'

And there was a smiley face drawn at the end. Danny's lips turned upwards at this, before he looked down at Sam, who continued to sleep peacefully; her chest rose and lowered with each breath, more because of habit than actual need. He gently moved her raven locks away, and lovingly gazed at the most beautiful face in both worlds. But nothing perfect lasted for eternity.

His phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Danny contemplated throwing it out of the window to shut it up before Sam woke up, but decided against it. Breaking the window would have created even more noise. He picked it up.

"What?" he whispered angrily.

"Phantom, your presence is required in the cave," Batman's voice sounded from the other end of the line.

Danny instantly regretted giving the Dark Knight his phone number. Back then he hadn't seen the reason why not, Batman already figured out that Fenton was Phantom, what a marvelous discovery. But Phantom knew about him as well, so it was that situation from now on. Danny sighed.

"Can't it wait?"

"No." Batman's voice left no room for debates.

"Fine," Danny all but snapped and ended the call.

He looked sadly at his wife; he didn't want to leave her. Yet, it was his initiative, so he had to go through with it.

"Sammy." Danny gently stroked her hair. "Wake up."

Sam shifted slightly on his body. "Don't want to," she mumbled without opening her eyes.

Danny chuckled slightly.

"Is there no way I can convince you?" He played along with her childish act.

"Maybe," Sam smiled slightly.

Danny took the bait, planting a kiss on her lips. Sam wrapped her hands around his neck, turning the kiss into the full make out session. Well, if that was a trap, then it was certainly not the unpleasant one. Once they parted away, Sam opened her eyes and got into sitting position, with her husband lying under her. She smirked widely.

"You fell for it. Again."

"Maybe I'm doing this willingly?" Danny smirked at Sam, before pulling his wife down and earning a laugh from her, the sound which always filled Danny with joy.

They gazed into each other's eyes, the reason for waking Sam up almost forgotten. Almost. Danny sighed.

"Sam, I've got to go," he whispered. "Dark and Gloomy called. He says I must be there."

"Can't it wait?"

"I asked the same thing. No, it can't."

Sam sighed. "Fine, go, my mighty hero," she said sarcastically.

"That's right, I'm YOUR mighty hero." Danny gave her a kiss on the cheek, before getting up.

"Wait," she grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "You do remember what will happen if you get a single scratch?" Sam asked with a sweet smile. Danny gulped.

"Yes, ma'am!" he said maybe too loud as Sam let go of his hand.

"Good, you may go."

"Sam, sometimes you are scarier than Pariah himself, you know that?" Danny asked.

Sam chuckled. "Maybe." Her look became serious. "But, Danny, be careful. Or I will have to come and solve your mess for god knows what time."

"It is my job to save the day, honey."

Danny shifted into his ghost form with a smirk on his face. Phantom changed his ghost form after his return in hero business, since the jumpsuit seemed rather lame.

Danny was wearing a black robe, which could be categorized more like a tight long sleeve T-shirt, made from the extremely weightless cloth created thousands years ago in the Ghost Zone. It could protect you if something was thrown at you, like a dagger. The clothing was something like a Newton liquid - the stronger the hit, the harder it became. It was not invincible, but could save your afterlife one day. It was rather expensive to say the least; only nobility could allow themselves to wear it, not for protection but to show off.

He also had white leather gloves - not the lab ones, but something out of XIX century - white boots and a belt with his insignia, with a white cape made from the same ghostly clothing. Danny grinned, putting hands on his hips.

"What d'ya think?" he asked.

Sam covered her eyes. "Oh no, I'm blinded with this shining!" she cried jokingly and they both laughed.

Danny saluted and flew through the wall, after becoming invisible. While flying to the cave, he occasionally glanced down in attempts to catch a glimpse of his daughter. Happy Harbor was a small town. Danny hadn't much success, sadly. He got to the meeting point with no problem, but decided to mess things a little, just for fun and small revenge. Instead of waiting outside, Danny flew straight through the mountain.

He knew that the base was located right inside of the rocky hill. Batman, as well as the other Leaguers didn't seem to trust him much, but Phantom just presented his trump card and they had to agree on his conditions. Danny had suspicions that their invitation was made only to make him trust them and spill the beans. As if, but he played along, trying to hide the vital information and so far he succeeded. Danny came up with a plan that he would watch over their apprentices while secretly being a League member. Even the one who wasn't told about their space station.

The cave was pretty homey despite the name. If you didn't look up at the cave's ceiling full of rocky pillars, Danny would have forgotten that he was in, well, a cave. It had a white tile floor, pretty furniture, which included an enormous sofa in front of the equally large TV, a fully equipped kitchen in the opposite end of the hall, a portal built in one of the walls...

'Yeah, definitely like home,' Danny thought with a smirk.

He then looked at the crowd of heroes, young and otherwise. Well, the team didn't need an introduction; he was familiar with them, just like with Bats and Robin Hood wannabe. Wally, though, was wearing light clothes, as if he planned to go to the beach. At sunset. Phantom resisted the urge to face palm. As for the new ones...

There were two archers ('Just how many of them does this dimension have?') One redheaded guy dressed in red and blonde teen girl dressed in green. And they kept throwing daggers at each other, figuratively, thankfully. Danny knew the first one: Roy Harper, Red Arrow or Speedy, former apprentice of Green Arrow. He left because he felt offended by his mentor's secrecy and regarding him as kid. The girl, however, Danny didn't know anything about her. 'Must be a new addition.'

After finishing his observations, Phantom started to listen to the conversation.

"Who are you?" Wally asked loudly. And what timing he picked, Danny had to give him credit.

Green Arrow and the girl both gave him a sideways glance.

"I'm/She's his/my niece," they said at the same time.

Danny cursed mentally. Here he hoped that he would receive a name.

'Wait...he doesn't have any nieces,' Phantom suddenly remembered, tapping on his chin. Something was definitely off there. It was so nice to have information about everyone, which let him see through any deceiving.

"Another niece?" Robin asked, confused.

Phantom looked at the Boy Wonder. Looks like not only he found that weird. Danny made a mental note to search for any info about her.

"But she is not your replacement," Aqualad said and stepped forward, snapping Phantom out of his thoughts. "We have always wanted you on the team. And we have no quota for archers."

This is where Danny decided to reveal himself.

"I hope you don't have a quota for my kind either." He dropped his invisibility, floating in mid air a few inches from the ground.

Needless to say that everyone was taken by surprise, except Batman and Red Tornado. Yet, the first one never showed any emotions, and another one was a freaking android with a motionless face.

"You were told to meet outside, Phantom," Batman said sternly.

Danny wasn't fazed by the glare, much to the surprise of the stunned crowd. He shrugged, before crossing his hands.

"Doesn't seem like YOU were waiting at the meeting point," he retaliated.

"That's because you are late."

"I'm late only by a few minutes," Phantom said, rolling his eyes. "Impatient, are we?"

"Eh, what is he doing here?" Wally asked with wide eyes.

Danny beat the Dark Knight to a response.

"Well, Mr. Walmart." He landed on the ground with a soft thud, a grin shining on his face. "I'm joining this team, too," he said rather smugly.

If possible, their eyes became even wider. Phantom looked at the female archer with a smile.

"I believe we weren't introduced properly. Daniel Phantom, my pleasure." He bowed slightly.

All one lessons about proper manners seemed to kick in automatically. Danny couldn't be a king if he continued to behave himself like the same old Danny Fenton in public meetings. He looked rather noble in the moments like this, which didn't go unnoticed by Kaldur. The Atlantean raised a confused eyebrow.

"Uhm, I'm Artemis," the archer said awkwardly, not knowing how to respond better.

Roy coughed loudly, being full of irritation. "If you are done exchanging pleasantries, I'd like to deal with this as quickly as possible."

Danny waved his hand. "Go ahead, who am I to hold you."

Artemis smirked. She started to like this guy, whoever he is.

Roy threw him a glare, but continued nonetheless. "The reason I came here is named Sterling Roquette."

Robin took out some device, which showed some kind of hologram. Danny whistled, clearly impressed.

'Huh, this world is more advanced than I thought,' he thought, rubbing his chin.

"Nano-robotics genius and claytonias expert at Royals University in Star City. Vanished two weeks ago," Robin reported.

"Yes, KIDNAPPED two weeks ago." Everyone turned towards Phantom. The half-ghost chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. He then snapped his fingers and a piece of paper appeared in his hand. "Kidnapped by...the League of Shadows. So, you want us to save her or something?"

"Hardcore," Wally commented.

"How do YOU know that?" Roy asked, narrowing his eyes at Phantom. He shrugged.

"I like keeping tabs on every potential threat. Big guys can support my statement, right?" Danny smiled innocently at the Leaguers, who gave each other glances in silent communication. "I may not know the villain's nefarious plans, but I do get information about some of their actions."

'What did he mean by that?' Every member of the team thought.

"Let's get to the point," Danny rolled his neon eyes.

"I already rescued her," Roy continued. "Only one problem. The shadows have already convinced her to make a weapon. Doc calls it the Fog. Comprised of millions of microscopic bots. Nano-tech infiltrators. Capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete, steel, flesh, bone..."

"But its mere purpose isn't mere destruction; it's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system, and deliver the stolen Intel to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science, and tech." Red Arrow finished.

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking... Yeah, sounds like the Shadows." Artemis commented.

"Like you know anything about the Shadows." Wally said. Artemis smiled at him. Danny knew that smile too well. She obviously knew something they didn't.

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the Fog inert," Red Arrow said.

"Eh, sorry to interrupt," Danny put in. "But for what 'civilian' purposes was it created? I fail to understand how flesh eating and steel tearing hacking nanobots can be used without causing any harm."

"I already told that it was converted into a weapon," Roy answered annoyed.

"Yet, it is a swarm of nanobots."

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the Fog inert." Red Arrow interrupted.

"But if the Shadows know she can do that, they'd target her." Danny said. Roy nodded grudgingly and turned to the computer.

"Right now, she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow said astonished.

"She's safe enough for now." The younger archer waved him off.

Green Arrow walked forward to his former protégé. "Then let's, you and I, keep her that way."

Red Arrow kept his face passive. "You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?"

Batman placed a hand on Green Arrow's shoulder. A silent message passed through them.

"You brought this to the Team. It's their mission, which means it's hers now too," Green Arrow said, gesturing to the teens.

Red Arrow scoffed. "Then my job's done." He walked away.

"Recognized. Speedy-"

"That's Red Arrow; B07, update."

And with that he was transported away. Wally and Artemis shared a look, and the silence was interrupted by one half-ghost.

"Am I the only one who realizes he just ditched Roquette on us?" he asked.

-Later-

'This feels weird.' Danny tapped on the ground with his leg.

The school he was in was the same one Dani joined just earlier that day. Of course, his daughter would thank him if half of the school blew up sky-high. Sam, on the other hand...he shuddered at the thought.

"Miss Martian, hook us up. We do not want the Shadows intercepting our coms," Aqualad ordered mentally.

Megan nodded, though the leader couldn't see, and bowed her head, telepathically linking everyone up.

"Everyone online?" The Martian asked.

Robin was online, however, he noticed that Phantom seemed out of this. Neither did he respond telepathically. Boy Wonder gave him a slight jab in the ribs.

"What was that for?" Danny narrowed his eyes.

"You didn't respond."

"Respond to what?" Phantom asked confused.

"You're supposed to use the telepathic response thing!" Robin said in their heads. Danny remained looking at him expectantly.

"Uh, Phantom, can you hear me?" Robin made no response to signal that he heard. Kid Flash and Aqualad were looking at them now.

Robin turned to them. "I don't think he's hooked up. Hey Miss M, you forgot Phantom." Robin said.

"Oh, I thought I got him. Give me one minute." Megan said.

They waited patiently and Danny was growing more and more irritated.

"Uh guys, we have a little problem." Megan said.

"What?" Aqualad asked.

"I can't get into his mind," the Martian informed.

"What do you mean you can't get into his mind?!" Kid Flash yelled.

"I can't find it! He's figured out a way to keep it off my radar!" Megan explained.

"Maybe you should stop staring at me like that and tell me what's going on?" Phantom asked as his eyes glowed a little brighter.

"Oh, sorry, Phantom, it's just Miss M can't connect you telepathically," Robin explained, before Danny's look immediately softened.

"Understandable," he huffed. "For telepathic access you need a special touch when it comes to my kind. Miss Martian, you may try again."

Megan tried again.

"Did it work?" she asked.

"Yep," Danny responded with a grin. "Alright, that's more weird than I thought."

"And distracting. Coding a distributive al-rhythm virus on a kiddy computer with less RAM than a wrist watch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teen think in my skull!" Roquette complained.

Danny huffed. "Please, my friend could hack a secret governmental facility with his PDA while he was being shot at. Compared to that, you are in heavenly conditions."

Roquette rubbed her temples. "I couldn't get the Justice League!"

Danny snorted at the irony of her statement. She got Justice League, just its youngest member.

"What I don't get is how the League allowed you to join the team," Wally said, munching a chocolate bar. He wasn't the only one interested.

"Simple, they had to. A little blackmail is never extra," Phantom grinned deviously as every head slowly turned in his direction.

"You. Blackmailed. THE Justice League?" Robin asked astonished.

"I told you I'm keeping tabs on every possible threat. And since the League is in touch with the government, they ARE on my list. I know their identities, so they had to agree to my...request."

"You don't care if their lives might be endangered because of that?" Aqualad asked.

"I would have cared, if not for my past experiences. There are a few people I care about. I won't let anyone harm them, no matter what it takes."

He forgot to mention billions of his subjects, but that detail should have remained unknown. This statement was followed by silence. Very awkward silence. Finally the Atlantean broke it.

"The virus won't be of much use if we cannot find the weapon. Can you track it?" Aqualad asked, coming up behind Roquette.

"My utility Fog is not a weapon, it's science. Brilliant science, and of course I can track it, but I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and have 'Assassinate me!' written in neon." Roquette explained and rubbed her face again.

"Ancients, do all technology specialists have a Behemoth sized ego?" Danny thought.

"Dude, we can hear you," Wally chocked on his chocolate bar from laughter.

"That's why I hate telepathy."

-Later-

With a little conviction on Kaldur's side and Roquette agreed to take the risks. The team split up and spread over the perimeter, while Danny and Aqualad stayed behind with the doctor.

Superboy was walking around on the street, when he heard something in the bushes. He searched for the cause of the sound, before jumping on the roof, then from there to where Megan and Artemis stood on guard. Superboy started looking for the source from there.

"Mmm, that boy," Artemis thought, before Superboy looked back at her weirdly.

"We can hear you! We all can hear you," Megan said.

"Oh, I know. The white haired one is pretty cute, too."

Back in the class Danny heard everything. Robin and Wally were laughing their butts off at the awkwardness of the situation, while Phantom tried to keep neutral face.

"Uhm, lady, I'm married," Phantom responded.

Now the tables were turned around, and the half-ghost grinned. Finally he wasn't the one embarrassed.

"Haha, he got ya!" Wally laughed.

Artemis really wanted to punch the loud mouthed speedster at the moment. Again, the team's inner quarrel was stopped by the leader.

"Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the Fog," Aqualad chimed in, "Reconfigure the Bio-ship so Robin and Superboy can pursue."

Megan raised her hand and the Bio-ship came out of camouflage mode as it descended from the sky.

"Ready," she declared.

Robin and Superboy ran to the ship. Its backdoor opened and they got inside. The ship flew in the air and took off towards their destination.

Meanwhile, Danny watched how the doctor worked, very closely, much to Roquette's annoyance. Those eyes of his were actually creepy.

"Would you stop that?!" She snapped.

"Sorry," Danny rubbed the back of his neck with a green blush. "My parents worked on nanobots too, that's why I'm interested. They were for extraordinary healing, but the ectoplasm fueling them didn't help much."

"Stop bugging me," Roquette said, before turning to the screen.

"Is that because of what I said about your ego?" She didn't respond.

Danny sighed, leaving her personal space. He looked at the wall clocks.

"Sorry, Sammy, I'm gonna be late for dinner," Phantom thought sadly, before perking up at the sudden sound of creaking door.

He looked in its direction just in time to see a shuriken flying out of it. Phantom got in front of the doctor just in time to catch the weapon. Not without damage, though.

"Umph, damn it," Danny cursed, looking at the ectoplasm strained glove.

"Doctor, get down!" Aqualad shouted.

A white mask appeared in the doorway, and more shurikens were thrown towards them. Aqualad pushed the doctor out of the harm's way, but this time Phantom was more prepared. He raised his hand and the shurikens froze in the air, surrounded by weak green glow, before flying back at the sender by a snap of the fingers.

The assassin ran inside the room. She was dressed in black and green clothes, with a smiling cat mask over her face.

"Oh, that has to hurt," she taunted.

"I'm more worried about what I'll receive for getting this injury in the first place." Danny grinned. "Who are you, anyway? Kitten?"

Phantom knew the assassin's name, but he just had to tease his enemies.

"It's Cheshire," she answered. "And you are Phantom, I take it."

She unleashed her sais and slashed, only to be greeted by the green barrier between them.

"Aw, my reputation precedes me."

Suddenly Cheshire was forced to defend herself against Kaldur's dual water bearers.

"Phantom, take the doctor out of here!"

"Roger that. Good luck, boss!"

Danny helped Roquette get on her feet, before pulling her after him. They ran into the nearest corridor, dodging the shurikens and sais thrown at them. Phantom shut the door and melted the doorknob with an ectoblast. Then they started to move fast. The half-ghost oriented himself pretty well, since he walked there a few times when he made several attempts to enlist his daughter here. He always lacked the needed papers and was denied by the deputy principal.

Danny heard a loud crash all the way back in the computer class. Phantom hoped that he wouldn't need to donate money on its repair. His thoughts were interrupted by a close shot of something white, which flew straight through Danny's intangible body. He saw two other assassins in front of them.

The first one was a Caucasian man with light brown eyes and white hair brushed forward in a Caesar style. He had a large metallic hook for a right hand, bandages around his torso and left hand, and a green jacket. He also wore blue cargo pants and black boots.

Another guy was weirder. He was wearing a purple spandex costume. There was a spider emblem of darker shade of purple on the forehead, which was connected to the golden eye pieces. The torso of the suit was dark purple, along with his hands, knees, elbow, inner elbow and parts of his feet. Around his wrist he had two dull gray bracelets.

"Alright, Old Man thought that you were too irrelevant to tell me your names. Mind sharing?" Danny asked with a cocky smirk.

"What are you doing?" Roquette whisper-yelled.

"Laughing into the face of the enemy is the best way of dealing with the problem. Especially when the fight is unfair..."

He suddenly pushed the doctor out of the iron hook's way and sidestepped. It was one of the tricks Clockwork taught him: pretend to ignore the threat while planning the fight beforehand. After the strike, the assassin fell forward slightly. Phantom decided to use it.

"Alright, you may be Patchy the Pirate." Danny grinned, before landing a hard hit on the man. "Ya know, this hook and all..."

The attack made the assassin land on his stomach and slide a few meters forward. Danny turned to the side just in time to see some kind of web coming at him. Phantom ignited his hand and melted down the sticky substance. A thick smoke formed from contact. The assassin used the smoke and jumped right through it, using the element of surprise. Expected surprise, however.

Danny blocked the first hit, but hand-to-hand combat wasn't his thing. He wasn't able to block some painful hits, but thankfully they weren't critical. The assassin obviously wasn't aware about ghosts' anatomy. They had only one organ to be punctured: their cores. And the ice cores were made of diamond-strong ice. Not to mention that his clothes absorbed the power of some strikes. Danny needed to get that Spider-man wannabe as far away from him as possible.

After blocking a jab with his left hand, Phantom held the opponent's hand, then ignited his arm and shot an ectoblast, letting go of the assassin. Danny immediately became intangible just in time to let the iron hook pass through him. Phantom clenched his fist and punched Patchy the Pirate with everything he had. The assassin flew through the wall, leaving a hole in the process. Danny grimaced. He definitely was going to pay for this.

Danny saw that spidey was moving towards Roquette. His eyes started to glow blue as the temperature in the room drastically dropped. Phantom shot an ice beam, creating ecto-shields in order to trap the assassin. His main advantage was his agility, so Danny needed to get rid of that advantage. The trick worked, but the assassin climbed on the ceiling instead, and making a flip in the air landed in front of Phantom. Danny then shot the double ice beams from his eyes. They hit the assassin and pinned him to the wall.

"Told you the fight was unfair," he said smugly as his eyes returned to their usual green, before looking through the hole in the wall, made by another assassin. "Patchy is gone. How? With his completion it should be impossible!"

"Are you done toying around?" Roquette asked.

"Party pooper," Danny grumbled. "I better check on Aqualad."

"What?! You must protect me!" The doctor yelled.

Phantom created a duplicate and sent him back to the computer class, with a deadpan expression on his face.

"Any complaints?" He asked sarcastically, before the duplicate floated in the air and took off on rapid speed, invisible.

The duplicate arrived at the same moment as Artemis. Cheshire was now surrounded.

"This gig is getting interesting," she murmured.

Phantom revealed his presence by shooting an ectoblast. Cheshire ducked out of the way.

"Maybe too interesting."

She threw a smoke grenade, and when the smoke dispersed, the assassin was gone. Danny's shoulders sank.

"I will never know how they do that," he muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Gone." Kid Flash said.

"This is all your fault! You had the perimeter covered! How'd that Shadow get in!?" he yelled at Artemis, who gave him a dry look.

Megan stepped forward. "That's not really fair. I was outside too."

"Yes, and where were you, Walmart?" Danny asked, crossing his hands.

Wally blushed.

"I found him unconscious in the pool," Megan answered instead, earning a look full of dismay from Wally and a deadpan expression from everyone else.

"Phantom, where is the doctor?" Aqualad asked seriously.

"Relaax, she is safe with my original." Danny waved his hand dismissively.

"Original?" Artemis asked.

"Yep. Like microbes, you know? We share the same consciousness, though."

"Focus everyone." The heroes turned to Aqualad. "The Shadows will be back."

Their coms started beeping.

"Robin to Aqualad, we're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadow's next target, Star Labs." Robin said. "We're too late. It's destroyed. The Fog decimated it. This is bad."

"No duh, Sherlock!" Danny said. Robin ignored him.

"Star Labs is cutting edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy."

"So, boss, what's our next move?" Danny asked.

"Re-scan for that Fog. Find it. We're moving the doctor." Aqualad ordered. "Phantom, where is your original?"

"Come on, I'll show you the way."

As they all started to follow the half-ghost, Artemis felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't do half as well as you did during my first battle and I know you couldn't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for very long," Megan said with a smile, before they followed the others.

-Later-

Phantom face palmed in annoyance.

"Would you stop that?" He asked.

"What?" Artemis and Wally asked at the same time, annoyed.

"You will burn holes in each other if you keep glaring like that." Danny crossed his hands.

"Maybe you should stop being a wise crack?" Wally asked. Phantom snorted.

"Hey, I'm merely stating the fact. A divided enemy is a dead enemy, and the assassins obviously know that. If you don't cooperate, we all will fail. Just like GIW." His face became a mix of amusement and thoughtfulness. "Yeah, they were so pathetic once you drew a stake between them," he muttered.

"Eh, what's a GIW?" Artemis asked.

Before Danny could respond, the door was banged open and the Spiderman wannabe jumped inside. Danny's eyebrows shot up.

"How the hell did he get out?!" he exclaimed.

Spiderguy lunged forward, but Kid Flash rapidly got up from his seat and engaged in battle. The assassin threw some red web at the speedster, but he dodged and threw a trash can at him. Spiderguy avoided the throw and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Artemis drew an arrow and started to aim. Phantom aimed an ectoblast, too, but then he saw Patchy—without an eye patch—come crashing through the roof behind the archer. He fired at him, instead, but the assassin rolled behind the chairs.

"Don't stop working!" Artemis said to Roquette, letting loose a set of arrows.

In their fight they hadn't noticed the leader of the assassins peak out from the window above. Cheshire took the crossbow and aimed at the doctor. However, the bolt was intercepted by a chair, which flew in front of Roquette.

"Martian is here! It's now or never!" Cheshire shouted.

After dodging Wally's attempt to tackle him to the ground, Spiderguy shot his web at the floating chair. He pulled it out of the way, before Cheshire jumped down, sending Roquette flying away from the computer and to the ground. She raised her blade, preparing to strike, when suddenly Roquette looked back and her skin turned green.

"We've been duked!" Cheshire exclaimed.

"Again!" She abruptly turned around and blocked Phantom's strike.

He was holding an ice sword and was wearing his usual carefree grin.

"My world has blaster weaponry and you are still using ninja stuff," Danny dodged the swing and responded with one of his own. "How old fashioned are you, hm?"

"On your planet, maybe, but not here," Cheshire continued her attack. However, Phantom noticed that she was trying to get out.

"Who said that I'm an alien?" He grinned mysteriously. "What was that stuff you put on the shuriken?"

"Jellyfish poison."

Danny became intangible and let the sword pass through. "And here I thought why I was feeling itchy in my hand. We are immune to any kind of toxin, just so you know."

Cheshire retreated back. Phantom started to move forward, making swing after swing. Once Danny made another one, she kicked him in gut. She then jumped back and ran to the exit.

"Pursuing target, keep them busy!" She ordered.

Danny prepared to block the exit with the barrier, but he heard a rumbling noise. He ducked out of the way of the flying...hook?

"You don't cease to surprise me, Patchy," he said in annoyance. Danny prepared to run after Cheshire, but Artemis beat him to it.

"Pursuing the leader, take the rest down!" she shouted, running out of the building.

"You are SO not the boss of me!" Kid Flash responded.

"Just do it!"

The second she said that, Wally was gripped by Spiderguy. Danny turned his attention away from Patchy and attacked the assassin. He put Wally in front of him, hoping that Phantom won't want to punch his comrade. Well, he was right, but he also didn't expect to be gripped through Wally's body. Wally gasped in surprise. Danny took a hold of Spiderguy's clothes, before making him intangible as well and pulling. He easily lifted the assassin and threw him on the ground, leaving a few cracks. Phantom then hit him hard on the head, knocking him out effectively.

Megan meanwhile was throwing the chairs at Patchy, who was just breaking them. Megan dodged the flying hook, before an idea hit her. She used her telekinesis and pushed the hook back at its owner, knocking him out as well.

"Woo-hoo! I got mine!" She said exclaimed excitedly.

"Good job, M, but we are getting to the most exciting part," Danny said, looking down at the Spiderguy. "And all this time it was...SOME RANDOM GUY!" He shouted once he took off the mask. "Man, should have brought Cujo."

"Cujo?"

"My pet hellhound. You know, so this guy could say, 'My plan would have worked if not for those nosy kids and their dog'," He made a funny voice, copying every single villain from the famous TV show.

"Hey, I know it, it is..."

Megan was interrupted by the half ghost. "Yep. Now let's move these guys to the others."

Danny used his strength to lift the Spiderguy with revealed face, before flying up in the air. Megan did the same with Patchy, but she used telekinesis. Wally, being an impatient speedster he was, ran off, leaving the two to fly by themselves. The building where they really hid Roquette wasn't that far, about two hundred meters away. That's why they got there pretty fast.

The doctor was carrying Aqualad, who was probably beaten in a fight with Cheshire, and Wally was talking with Artemis less than pleasant.

"Wow, she got away from you? What a surprise," he said sarcastically. "Notice, we got ours." He pointed towards Phantom and Megan.

"Yes, Your Majesty, but it doesn't seem like you are carrying your trophy," Danny deadpanned, dropping the unconscious body of Spiderguy on the ground.

"Keep that guy to yourself, I got the souvenir," Wally picked up Cheshire's mask.

"A mask?" Aqualad asked, starting to pull out the shurikens from his body. "Did you," —he took out one—"see," —another—"her face?" And the last shuriken was taken out.

"It was dark," Artemis said, looking away. Danny got a feeling it wasn't that simple.

"It is fine, Robin and Superboy neutralized the Fog. Doctor Roquette is safe, thanks in no small part to you. Welcome to the team."

Artemis smiled.

"Hey, no welcome to me?" Danny asked with a pout.

"Dude, you were on every mission. You were ALMOST part of the team," Wally answered.

The four heroes came closer to Artemis.

"I've always wanted a sister," Megan said, "H-here on Earth, I mean. I have many on Mars, but trust me, it's not the same."

"I...don't know, but...thanks," Artemis responded.

"Welcome to the team, congratulations and all that, sorry, didn't have time to prepare a big speech," Danny smiled, before nudging Wally with the same smile.

"Yeah, welcome," the speedster said not so eagerly, before shaking her hand.

A.N. I may stop working on a story, but I never abandon my creations.


	7. Chapter VII: Denial

A.N. Hehe...well, once a year is not eternity, right?

If there was one thing King Phantom hated about the Council meetings, it was constant shouting and arguments.

The Realms representatives argued constantly, and not in the most civilized way. Yells and insults were actually the best outcome. They had to rebuild the Parliament building a few times after several fights had broken out. Phantom banned any fighting with his laws, which had to be put through without the Council agreement. No one dared to complain about that, for multiple reasons. Some feared what Pariah's Bane could do to them, others were afraid to look moronic in front of their ruler.

Phantom rose from his throne, and judging from his expression, he obviously wasn't pleased.

"SILENCE!"

His booming voice was heard by everyone. The entire hall shut their mouths immediately.

Danny's head started to ache, even if it should be impossible for his ghost form. Once he looked around and made sure no one was going to interrupt, he looked at one of the ambassadors.

"You may continue, Sir Lancelot," Phantom declared, before sitting down on the throne near his wife.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," the ghost dressed in medieval armor nodded. "What I was implying in my speech is that the incidents like that cannot be allowed! We are now a part of one state, but there is a turmoil, which my liege is willing to solve. King Arthur is a peaceful and noble ruler, many of present here can support my statement! We would have never trespassed Queen Dorathea's territory, and since when the Oak forest became hers?"

"Does Dorathea's ambassador has anything to say?" Sam asked.

"Yes, Your Highness, I'd like to say a few words," the legatus rose to his feet, before making a cough. "There are certain details I'd like to discuss. Indeed, The Oak forest belongs to Camelot. On papers. But our troops are based there for much longer than my Queen rules. Prince Aragon stationed his forces on that territory."

"And yet they are still there," Phantom stated. "For what reason?"

Dora was his loyal friend, and a huge supporter of his rule, but he had to remain neutral in all questions. His authority must be unquestionable, and if he blindly takes side of his friend, the press and the Council would murder him second time. Danny hoped that Dora would understand his actions.

The legatus didn't lose his composure, he was in this job for centuries. "For safety, milord. We had to make sure that no feral ghost gets on our territory and starts to terrorize our peasants. The Oak forest is the only thing separating our lands from the Barrens and all the horrid beasts inhabiting them. And since we are in such a relationship with the Camelot and its knights, we cannot trust them at all, I'm afraid."

"The feeling is mutual," Lancelot added, "What reasons do WE have to trust you our safety? The citizens of Camelot are suffering from the ferals just as much as you do. Let's not forget that you are still on our territory. We could force you out whenever we wanted, and yet we are patiently waiting."

"Is this a threat, Sir Lancelot? Because it certainly seems like it."

"Not at all, milady," Lancelot bowed slightly in the Queen's direction. "I'm merely stating that we will have to use the force if they don't leave and let us take our rightful territory."

Danny leaned back on his throne, rubbing his chin in thought. After ten seconds of silence, he announced his decision.

"This matter shall be discussed further, and not only here, but between your rulers as well. I propose that they meet at the neutral territory and negotiate. Until the agreement between the Kingdoms of Aragon and Camelot is reached, the Royal Army will be stationed there and protect both Realms. Does that satisfy you?"

Both representatives nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty," they said.

"Very well, then. Do we have the Council's agreement?"

The Council members voted in favor. It would have been weird if it was otherwise. After all, both sides were satisfied. In the cases like that, the Council was just a required formality. That's actually why the meetings were held only once in two weeks.

"Since this last question is solved for now, the meeting is adjourned," Phantom declared.

The senators got up from their seats and took their way to the exit. Danny had a few words with two opposing representatives, before they left the room as well. Danny returned to Sam, who was still sitting on her throne with a bored expression. Sam wore a dark purple dress, with several black parts. On top of her head was a tiara, which was made of green vines, hard as rock, with a few black roses on it. Sam didn't need to pretend being interested when no one was looking. Danny chuckled slightly.

"It is turning into routine, huh?" He asked, earning a tired sigh from his wife.

"No doubt about that. At least in the beginning there was someone to hit to blow off steam," she said sarcastically.

Sam was referring to the time when Phantoms had just taken their positions. There were people who largely disagreed and preferred a fight to a dialog. It was entertaining to beat them up and prove themselves worthy. She and Danny made a wonderful fighting duo.

Danny smirked widely, "Oh, I remember. Nocturne will forever remember your knockout."

Sam smiled and chuckled. "Alright, let's get home, I can't wait to take this stupid dress off," she got up from her seat, not noticing her husband's mischievous expression.

"I can help you with that if you want," he whispered in her ear.

"Danny!" She exclaimed, hitting him playfully, fully understanding what will follow. "Dani is at home, we can't do it."

"But you want it, don't you?" Danny continued with the cutest pout he could manage.

It was a good thing that the other ghosts didn't see the king acting like a kicked puppy.

"Ugh, why should you always make this pout?" Sam asked in exasperation. "What do you offer?"

"That instead of going into our home in human world we go to the Palace and have fun in our chambers?"

"But Dani will be alone," Sam said in concern.

Danny chuckled yet again. It never ceased to amuse him how this tough girl was so motherly on the inside.

"Sammy, she may be technically three years old, but she is twelve in everything else. I'll just call her and say we will come later. So, what do you say, hon?"

"Okay, you won, but only if you can handle this, big boy." She said, before planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, you are so in it!" Danny grinned.

-Later-

"That...was amazing!" Danny panted in exhaustion.

Sam kissed him on cheek with a smile. "Yes, it sure was, love. I missed that a lot."

"Told ya you would like it," he smirked, putting one arm behind his head, while hugging his wife with another.

"Don't let it get in your skull, snow head," Sam rolled her eyes, snuggling closer and putting her head on his chest.

"With you making constant reminders? Never!" Danny laughed.

He leaned forward for another kiss, preparing for another round of lovemaking. Sam wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed back.

"Ahem, ahem."

The royal couple flinched in surprise, before their eyes widened in horror. They spun around to face the intruder, the blankets hiding their naked bodies. Clockwork was floating in the doorway with a neutral look on his face.

"CLOCKWORK, WHAT THE HELL?!" They both exclaimed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your...family affairs, but there is something I need to talk with Daniel immediately."

"Oh, that settles everything!" Sam said sarcastically. "Couldn't you pick another time?"

"I'm afraid not, this time is suited best. And there is no need to be so angry. I see everything."

Phantoms' eyes widened again. "YOU OLD PERVERT!"

Clockwork sighed, rubbing his temples. "Believe me, if I could, I wouldn't have looked. May we get to the point?"

Sam sighed as well, "I'll go take the shower."

"Wait, how are you going to...hey!"

She started to pull the covers after herself as she was getting up from their bed. Danny quickly became invisible out of instinct. When Sam came inside the bathroom, Danny got up and started to search in his drawer.

"What is that horribly important thing which made the Time Master himself contact me in such a moment?" He asked with faux bravado, putting on the clothes on his invisible body.

"Would it convince you that the matter is important if I told that the Observants allowed me to inform you?"

Danny stopped abruptly, looking at the Time Master with wide eyes, even if he was invisible, and so was his expression.

"What. Is. It?" He asked, becoming visible, now fully dressed.

"Daniel, have you studied the history of the Infinite Realms?"

"Well," Danny rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah."

"Then you are aware about the Lords of Order and Chaos?"

Phantom sat in an armchair near Clockwork. "Just that one brat terrorized the entire world, and that that snobbish Lords of Order didn't want to help us in our hour of need."

Clockwork smiled slightly. "Us?"

Danny looked at his mentor like he was stupid. "Of course. I'm half-ghost, my daughter is, I'm wed to the ghost. So, I consider myself one."

The Time Master chuckled. "Indeed, but as to why I came here, you will confront both Lords in a short while."

"Wait a second, you want to say that the Witch Boy somehow managed to get in the Ghost Zone?"

"He now needs a vessel to be present anywhere but his world. I'm not allowed to tell you what exactly he is planning or what he is doing, sadly."

"Yeah, yeah, time and matter, heard it before," Danny waved his hand, before crossing his legs. "So, you are basically offering to contact the Lord of Order or what? They didn't care about this world before, why should he now...unless..." he laughed. "Flames, Old Man, you planned this all along."

"You became quite resourceful, Daniel. Yes, they may not care about the ghost race, but they cares about humans."

"And we will defeat Klarion outside of our world without any harm coming to it," Danny grinned.

"Be careful, Daniel, if there is one thing the Lord of Order is right about, is the ghosts' nature. Our abilities' nature is indeed chaotic, no matter how we use this power. And so, your usual ghost powers may prove ineffective against Klarion. Use them wisely and trust your new teammates."

"So they are involved in it?"

"They soon will. Just head there as planned."

The Time Master nodded in farewell, before rising from his seat and floating out of the room. Danny leaned back in the chair. And the day started so well. He looked towards the bathroom door and patiently waited until his wife came out of there. Sam was wearing black bathrobes and a towel on her hair. Danny smiled internally, she looked so cute in that moments.

"Is the old man gone?" Sam asked, looking around.

Danny chuckled. "Yep. We are all alone now. So..."

"Sorry, hon. Knowing that one pervert sees us...Let's go home, alright?"

Danny nodded grimly, with only one thought in mind.

'DAMN YOU, STOPWATCH!'

When Phantom returned to the human world, he departed to the cave. He had to look after his new comrades and the team building was essential for that. So he was flying to the Mountain, simply phasing through the surface of the mountain. Danny looked around the living room, in which all the members, for the exception of Robin, were present. He softly landed on a sofa.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" He asked in a gloomy tone, became visible, stretching his muscles.

Wally, who had been sitting on a sofa near him, jumped high in the air and yelped. Everyone burst laughing at the speedster's misfortune, including Danny. "Dude, don't crawl up like that!" Wally exclaimed.

"Not as long as I find it funny," Danny responded.

"Why the long face?" Artemis asked.

Phantom flopped on a sofa. "I was interrupted from having love with my wife, aside from that, everything is fine," he made a sarcastic smile.

Everyone stared at him.

"What? We are married," Danny deadpanned. "Neither it is the first..."

"Enough of this, please," Artemis interrupted, rubbing her face.

"So, are you up to something?" Phantom immediately changed the topic.

"Me and Superboy were planning to spar," Kaldur said. "We don't have anything else to do at the moment."

"Fair enough. But I'm next," Danny gave a wide grin. And only Superboy understood what was awaiting the unlucky one.

The team got to the briefing room, which could also serve as the sparring ground. The computer announced the beginning of the fight, and two teens began their sparring. Danny merely observed with unmistakable interest in his neon eyes. Despite the fact that his identity was known to his teammates, Phantom still preferred to be in the ghost form in that time. The spar partners were fighting rather well, not slippery at least. Superboy wasn't as drastic as before, he had a chance to retreat after the advance. But his observation was stopped when he heard the girls talking via his super hearing.

"You know, Kaldur is actually nice. Handsome, strong, commanding. You should ask him out," Artemis said to Megan.

Danny rolled his eyes, understanding that this wasn't concerning him. Then Wally sat near him, munching a burito in less than careful way.

"Hey, dude, I was wondering," he asked, while his mouth was full of the food, much to Phantom's displeasure. "What are you?"

Phantom blinked. "I've told you several times I am a ghost."

"No, no. I meant, seriously, are you some otherdimensional being or something else."

"Oh, I get it. You don't believe in ghosts."

"Those are skary tales for kids," Wally finished his treat and wiped his hands. Danny gave him a deadpan look.

"Can skary tale speak to you right now?" He asked, crossing his hands. "Go on, Walmart, tell me how do you call a walking corpse? Zombies ARE fiction, ghosts are not. Ironic, my parents used to study the ghosts, categorized them and analyzed. You can even consider us a specie. But we are living dead."

Wally didn't seem like he believed this much. Then the female computer announced Superboy's victory. Danny was about to go for the round with the victor, but the arrival of Red Tornado interrupted them.

"Hey, Tornado, do you have a mission for us?" Wally asked, running to the robot.

"Mission assignment is Batman's responsibility," Tornado said in the same metallic voice.

"Yes, but he and Robin are in Gotham, doing their 'dynamic duo' thing."

Red was silent for a while, before he walked off to the computer. An image of the aged man with a golden cane appeared.

"This is Kent Nelson, a friend. He is hundred and six years old."

While Wally whispered something to Artemis, Danny examined the man's appearance. He looked younger than he would have expected, it probably had something to do with magic, he knew who the guy was. Or, more precisely, whom he was holding. His suspicions were confirmed when a golden helmet came into view.

"Now that's what I call an irony," Phantom commented, causing everyone to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Wally asked.

"Oh, nothing, Nabu didn't want to help my people, and now I'm helping him?"

"Eh...who?" Artemis raised her eyebrow.

"The guy inside this helmet. Kent is but a vessel for him."

"And you know him because..."

"I don't mean personal acquaintance," Danny raised his gloved hands. "Just what I've read in our history books. I am quite patriotic, so don't blame me for disliking their lot."

"May I proceed?" Tornado asked. He somehow managed to sound annoyed. Maybe it was just Danny who thought so. The half ghost nodded.

"Kent might be on one of his usual...walkabouts. But it is unwise to leave an artifact of such power unguarded."

He showed them a key. "This will allow you to enter the Tower of Fate."

"Oh, this will be GOLD," Danny said with a grin. "If only he had a face of his own...Is anyone else eager as much as I am?"

"Although for another reason, I am too," Megan smiled in excitement. "He is like the great priests and priestesses of Mars!"

Kaldur supported her, so did Wally. Now that was odd, both he and Artemis thought so. He was way too close minded and stubborn, not to mention that his disbelief in ghosts was as clear as day. Nevertheless, Danny understood the sudden change of behavior. He was impressing the girl. Well, he was calm about it, the guy was going to be bitten in the ass for this later. Phantom came through this, so would the speedster.

As they were going through the air to their destination, Danny suddenly realized that he didn't know where they were going. He was too busy with the thoughts of his own. Since the Boy Wonder, his personal returner to reality, had been absent, such thing happened.

"Uhm, where are we going, can I ask? I kinda spaced out," Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Salem," Megan said, cheerful as ever.

Everyone noticed how Phantom paled, even though the light inside the bio-ship was dim. It probably had something to do with the fact that Danny was a walking lightbulb. His ethereal aura was bright enough to show his current skin color.

"Salem," he repeated to clarify it, more to himself. "Well, as long as they aren't trying to burn my Sammy on the stake again, I think it is fine. Witch trials are like that."

The fellow heroes just preferred to ignore his usual rambling. Even if they were curious about their strangest teammate.

"Ooh, witch trials," Artemis smirked. "They must have done a lot of things, right, Wally?"

"Eh, yes! There obviously was a reason," Wally said, throwing a brief glance on Megan, who was too busy looking outside. "They must have done magic. Too sad that they weren't accepted back then."

"Yep," Danny put in. "Although Sam hasn't done anything. She just looked like a witch in their opinion. Maybe because she shouted curses at them..." he rubbed his chin in thought.

They got to the city soon. It wasn't far, after all. The bio-ship descended on the ground, and the team exited it. It was a plain piece of land, without anything catchy. It was a late evening, about half before nine. There wasn't anyone but them around, well except for a creepy cat which ran off somewhere. Danny actually shivered, that never happened before quite like that. He wasn't afraid, the shiver was of another nature. Phantom didn't move his neon eyes away from that cat, with dirty brown fur and crimson eyes.

It hid inside the building the second they exited the shuttle.

"Megan, are you sure no one saw us?" Danny asked.

The Martian nodded. "This area seems pretty rundown."

"Wally, scout the area," Kaldur said, turning to the speedster.

"Roger that, boss," Wally said and ran off.

Soon he returned, with a tail of dust following him. "Nothing is there. Even that tower."

"So, do you think it is adaptive micro-electronics thing?" Artemis asked.

"Of course...it is magic!" Wally yet again changed his mind as Megan approached him.

"Smooth," Danny smirked.

Kaldur meanwhile looked at the key, previously given to him by Red Tornado. "A test of faith," he mumbled, before stepping forward.

He put the key into air. And the wild assumption somehow worked. A tall tower appeared out of nowhere, and the door opened.

"Wow, if only I could do so to avoid paying rent," Danny said in amusement. "It is truly a magic."

Artemis snorted a laugh. Megan didn't get it, Kaldur wasn't the kind to laugh often, and Superboy just couldn't. Wally somewhat assumed that Danny was mocking him, with the tone he said 'magic'. They entered the building, but the second they did so, the door disappeared behind them. It was a wide room, with stone columns and breeks, giving off a vibe of fantasy universe, full of dungeons and dragons. But there weren't any exits.

"Uhm, where did the door go?" Superboy asked.

Suddenly a person appeared in front of them. It was Kent Nelson, his golden hologram-like appearance flicking slightly.

"Greetings, you have used the key, but the tower does not recognize you. State your purpose and intent."

Before anyone could do anything, Wally stepped forward. "We are true believers, here to find Doctor Fate!"

The hologram or whatever that was, seemed not amused. Suddenly, the floor fell below them, straight into the magma pit. And the team followed. Danny reacted quickly steadying himself in the air. Megan grabbed Wally, Artemis used the grappling hook and caught Aqualad. Superboy was slipping down, despite holding the rocks. Danny raised his hand and the hero stopped falling. Phantom then hurled Superboy upwards, farther from the magma. The latter grabbed the rock again.

"Okay, guys, I can..." Danny looked upwards. The ceiling grew out of nowhere. "Well, crap. Why lava of all things?!" He complained, wiping his forehead.

"I won't be able to stand here for long!" Megan added.

"Atlanteans are vulnerable to high temperatures as well," Kaldur added, sweating heavily.

"What a wonderful team, half of it can be taken with one strike," Danny deadpanned loudly.

He then tried to make his body intangible, trying to phase through the ceiling. His stark haired head hit it. Phantom yelped loudly.

"What happened?" Megan asked.

"I can't phase through!" Danny yelled down.

"Why?!" Wally shouted.

"Magic, Walmart, magic!" Phantom continued to shout, as the heat was already crawling under his skin. There was no going back once it reached his core. "I hate it so much!"

"Hello, Megan!" The Martian hit her temple lightly. "We haven't answered the question properly! Red Tornado sent us to save Mr.Nelson and the Helmet of Fate!"

It worked like magic. The lava was covered by a large metal platform, allowing the team to descend to the ground. Many sighed in relief. Kaldur kneeled and pressed his webbed hands towards the surface.

"It should be red hot, but it's cool to the touch."

"Don't worry megalishious, I got ya," Wally said, trying to wrap her hand around the Martian redhead.

"ENOUGH!" Artemis roared, approaching the speedster. "Your attempt to impress Megan at all costs nearly got us barbecued!"

"What do you mean?"

"When you lied to...whatever it was and said that you are a true believer!"

"Wally," The Martian looked at him. "You don't believe?"

After a moment of silence, Wally spoke up. "Fine! Yes, I don't believe, because magic is just a primitive understanding of how the world works!"

"Wally, I've studied magic in Atlantean Academy of sorcery. My water bearers work because of magic," Aqualad tried to reason.

"Ever heard of bioelectricity? In primitive societies fire was considered a magic."

"Alright, Walmart, how would you explain a genie? I met one, she could make everything out of nothing," Danny crossed his hands.

"She was probably wrapping the space, I don't know the details."

"You are pretty close minded for someone who can break the sound barrier in sneakers."

"It is science! I simply repeated Flash's experiment!"

"Well, I think this thing doesn't fit as normal," Kaldur took a handle of the trapdoor on the floor, which seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Wait, if you open it..."

However, instead of lava, a snowstorm blew into their faces. Without saying a word, the team went there. It appeared to be a middle of nowhere, with a lot of snow in which Danny dived in immediately, and even mountains around.

"It's snow!" Megan said excitedly.

"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Artemis asked Wally. Danny laughed.

They all jumped in and instead of falling they landed on solid ground. They watched as the hole they came through, disappear. Everyone looked at Wally.

"Well?" Artemis asked.

"Ever hear a string theory? We're in a pocket-dimension." He said.

"Uh!" Artemis said and they turned around.

Danny facepalmed from his spot in the snow. Suddenly he noticed a flying cane, surrounded by a golden glow.

"Guys!" He called, jumping on his legs and phasing off the snow.

"What's that?" Megan asked.

"Ooo, maybe it's Nelson's magic wand." Wally said sarcastically and zipped forward.

Artemis and Wally both grabbed it at the same time. Danny tried to stop them from falling into an obvious trap.

"Wait!"

"I got it." They both said. The cane glowed brighter. "Uh! I can't let go!" The two shouted.

They disappeared, and Phantom, who had grabbed the edge of Wally's clothes, along with them. They appeared in a strange place with numerous staircases denying all laws of physics. Well, it was magic, duh.

"Abra Kadabra!" Wally said upon seeing the slick haired and buffed man. Kent was there, and he smiled at his cane.

"Oh would you look at that." The cane glowed gold and Kent followed suit. The elderly man flew forward and grabbed his cane and the binds holding him diminished.

Danny's look was turned to another person. It looked like a young man, a boy even, hence the name. He was wearing a tuxedo with a tie, his hair were tied in a horn-like fashion. And there was the same cat Danny suspected.

"I knew that ugly cat was bad news," he deadpanned quietly.

"In here!" Kent said to the teens as two elevator doors opened up. The three teens and the man ran forward.

"No! No! NO! I want the Helmet! I want it! I want it! I want it!" Klarion yelled shooting forward two red beams, and one of them hit the half ghost.

"Danny!"

Phantom yelped in pain, as he was unable to get inside the elevator in time. The red energy around him subdued.

"Oh, not going to run now, little rat?" Klarion asked smugly.

"Says the one who shoots at the back," Danny smirked, the pain already gone. He leaped on his feet. "I expected you to be stronger."

"I have not time for this. Abra, dear."

The man stepped forward and fired electricity. Danny swiped his hand and the shield appeared in front of him.

"Such a pity," Phantom mocked. "Wannabe magician alongside the Lord of Chaos. Hey, Klarion, do you carry him around to fill the role of your ugly friend?"

The Witch Boy burst into laughter, despite the situation. "Oh, that was a good one. But you still have to die, sorry, boy!"

His hand glowed red as he fired. Danny easily dodged the shot and responded with the one of his own. But not at the Witch Boy, but at his poet shirt wearing companion. Kadabra was launched back, into the wall, or the ceiling, kinda hard to figure out. In any case, he was out of picture.

"Hm, interesting. You are a ghost, aren't ya?"

"Bingo."

Phantom started launching green blasts. Klarion raised a shield, and like magnets with the same polarities, they went aside like Moses and Red Sea, blowing up around the dome. The Witch Boy laughed like a madman again.

"You are so naive, boy, ghosts and Chaos are inseparable. You cannot harm me at all!"

"Neither can you," Phantom noted.

"Maybe...I would have offered you to join the party, but the cart is full already. I have more important things to do, kid, and you won't slow me down. Ta!"

Klarion disappeared, leaving Danny alone, because Kadabra vanished as well. Phantom's lips thinned, but at the same time he needed to find the enemy before he reached the helmet. But how was he supposed to defeat the Lord of Chaos? His blasts didn't work...Danny snapped his fingers, it could work. But first he needed to find the others.

It didn't take long. The explosions could be caught easily by his extra sensitive hearing. By the time he reached the fighting, Phantom learned that by simply jumping on the wall, it became a floor. It made his head spin, but he managed to get used to that. It was a good thing he could fly. The rest of his team was there, fighting Kadabra who had recovered.

"Should have made it more powerful," Danny mumbled before turning invisible.

On his way Phantom almost fell deaf because Kent decided to hit the huge bell with his cane. Danny dropped his invisibility by accident, covering his ears, more because it was so sudden. The fake magician started shooting at him, obviously holding a grudge for humiliation. At the same time he somehow managed to fight the rest of the team, minus Wally, who had entered the bell with Nelson.

"Jeez, guy! We have freedom of speech here!" Danny exclaimed, before seeing Klarion flying inside the bell.

Sending a wave of ectoenergy, Phantom got enough time as Kadabra tried to avoid the shot. He flew through the apparent magical portal. The half ghost exited on the roof. He saw that Klarion was firing at the golden dome, with Wally holding unconscious, or worse...Kent. The helmet of Fate was floating above them. Seeing that they were in trouble, Danny charged a blast. He fired at the ground beneath the Witch boy, and it exploded, sending him several meters to the side. He looked at him with burning hatred. What a quick change.

"I had enough of your interruptions, Phantom!"

"Oh, so you know my name. Charming. If only you knew a name of a proper barber...but I don't think you are the one to ask."

Klarion roared and started throwing blasts at the ghost. Danny graciously avoided most of them, absorbing the rest with his shield. He wasn't going to be overconfident and think that the Lord of Chaos was harmless to him. He was. It only didn't work other way, that's why it was so hard for the ghosts to get rid of him. The one who forced him out of the Ghost Zone was Pariah, before he became a king, but everyone knows how it turned out later. Only because he...

'Created the crown,' Danny finished the thought.

It was a drastic measure, but Klarion didn't show any sign of being exhausted. Phantom on the other hand was getting weaker. Blast after blast, and the Lord of Chaos was becoming more and more psychotic and ballistic. When Danny was near the dome, he looked at Wally.

"I could use some help over here!" He exclaimed as his own shield started to crack.

"I can't! The dome blocks everything in and out! I'll have to put on the helmet..."

"Don't! You may never take it off afterwards!" Danny warned loudly.

But then his shield was shattered. Phantom obviously underestimated his opponent even then. His attacks, even if exploding nearby, helped at first, but Klarion found his tactic and learned how to avoid the attacks.

Danny fell on his knees, while the Witch Boy laughed.

"Pathetic. Is this the one who beated Twister and Kobra? They are real weaklings, apparently."

"Well, they are. But I'm not going to surrender either," Phantom chuckled, getting on his legs. "Not as long as I have some tricks."

"Oh, and would that...be."

Danny smirked, showing a green ring he had taken from his pocket. "Remember this, brat?"

"NO!"

Klarion fired the blasts, but Phantom disappeared in darkness once he put the ring on, before reappearing again. There was a green burning crown on his head, on which the stark hair started flowing around. His body was now covered in plate, pitch black armor. A green sword shone on his belt.

"You...You are the Ghost King!" Klarion exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, yes, let's see how you fare now."

"Ooh, am I supposed to wet my underwear at your sight like your pretty wife?"

The Witch Boy prepared to shoot as Phantom growled, brandishing his sword. But the Lord of Chaos was suddenly blasted by a yellow light. Raising his eyebrow, Danny looked to the side and his eyes widened in horror.

"Wally, you fool," he mumbled.

The Lord of Order wore a golden helmet that covers the entirety of the host's head, excluding the ears and hair. Fate wore a long, high collared cape, fastened with two large buttons. Beneath was a blue shirt with a golden oval set in the chest. He also donned a large golden belt with a circle in the center, and deep blue pants with golden boots.

"Give it up Nabu! Order went out of style in the twentieth century!" Klarion yelled, and narrowly dodged Danny's shot.

"This battle is pointless. You sought to take the Helmet before it gained a host but you are too late." Dr. Fate said. His voice was Wally's, but a lower, deeper voice overpowered his.

"Shut it, you old fart!" Klarion yelled and two rock columns flew up and crashed into Dr. Fate. The named doctor stretched his hands out. An Ankh appeared and blocked the spell.

"Brat," both opponents mumbled, before simultaneously firing blasts.

Klarion disappeared. Then he came out of nowhere behind them, hurling a power wave. Danny's reflexes allowed him to block the attack, but Dr. Fate wasn't able to. Phantom winced, he could care less about Nabu, but it was Wally's body.

"You're out of practice Nabu. And your pathetic host body, zero infinity for the Mystic Arts!" Klarion taunted.

He seemed to ignore Danny on purpose. Trying to make him angry. But Phantom wasn't going to fall for it.

A storm with red lightning appeared above fallen Nabu and he barely put up a shield.

"Ooo, rainbow power." Klarion said sarcastically.

Teekl meowed impatiently at his master.

"I am paying attention, you stupid cat." Klarion hissed. Teekl meowed again, annoyed like. "Case you haven't noticed, I'm winning!" Klarion yelled.

Suddenly the dome broke, but so did the attack. Danny meanwhile came up with a plan. Fate distracted the Witch Boy, and it was enough for the half ghost. Once Klarion was about to hurl another blast, he heard a whistle behind. He looked horrified at the scene.

"Teekl!" He exclaimed.

Danny was holding his cat, harshly and firmly. It meowed loudly.

"Teekl! I can't believe you would assault a defensive-less pussy cat!" Klarion yelled at them.

"We all know that creature is no cat, Witch Boy." Danny said, smirking.

His clawed glove traced down the pet, earning the cat to scream. It started to grow, but Phantom seized the attempt by grabbing the neck. It was smart enough to realize that if it grew, the pressure would be bigger. Klarion's hand glowed, but Danny kept smirking.

"Tut, tut," He said. "I still hold your pet, Klarion. Sammy would probably kill me for this animal abuse, but it's not an animal either. You can't exist in this world without the vessel. You should have stayed there, and let me warn you. Come into the Ghost Zone, and everything will repeat again and again. This shall be your lesson."

Then Phantom made a simple motion, and a loud crack followed. He just snapped the cat's neck by spinning it into unimaginable angle. Its corpse was dropped on the ground.

"NOOOO!" Klarion screamed deafeningly, before flickering out of the view.

Phantom chuckled. So mighty and yet so weak once the weakness was found. If only he thought this up before putting on the ring. He was already starting to hear the whispers. Danny took off the ring and put it deep into his pocket, out of sight. Suddenly he was blasted for god knows what time. This time by Dr.Fate.

"Hey! What gives!" He exclaimed. "I'm on your side, you moron!"

"You are just as a spawn of chaos as Klarion is. It is my duty to get rid of you."

"Asshole," Danny cursed.

This battle was short for two reasons. Phantom, despite not willing to hurt Wally, wasn't restricted with his powers. It was the Lord of Order now. Two, Fate wasn't picky with the host and he was exhausted more because of it. In the end, Danny pinned him to the ground with one precise and powerful blast.

"Now, release. My friend. At once."

Fate got up, preparing to strike, but then froze, like if in trans. Phantom guessed that Wally was trying to talk this out. It lasted for several minutes, but, somehow, the helmet was taken off, and Wally got back to usual. The speedster approached him.

"How did you manage to convince him?" Danny asked.

"I promised to find someone more proper. So...you are a King."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "About that...let's not share it, okay?"

"Why?"

"Well, I want at least some privacy. Everyone gets to keep a secret, why not me?"

Wally snorted. "I got ya. Still...what do you do? Live in a castle with your queen and going hunting?"

"Well, mostly it is paperwork."

They both laughed. "Okay, dude, I'm becoming a library of secrets. But...I think we have to do something else."

Wally looked at the fallen Kent, and so did Danny.

"Yeah, we have," Phantom said sadly.


End file.
